# The Serializable interface

(PHP 5 >= 5.1.0, PHP 7, PHP 8)

## Introduction

Interface for customized serializing.

Classes that implement this interface no longer support __sleep() and __wakeup(). The method serialize is called whenever an instance needs to be serialized. This does not invoke __destruct() or have any other side effect unless programmed inside the method. When the data is unserialized the class is known and the appropriate unserialize() method is called as a constructor instead of calling __construct(). If you need to execute the standard constructor you may do so in the method.

Warning

As of PHP 8.1.0, a class which implements Serializable without also implementing __serialize() and __unserialize() will generate a deprecation warning.

## Interface synopsis

interface Serializable {
/* Methods */
public function serialize(): ?string
public function unserialize(string `$data`): void
}

## Examples

Example #1 Basic usage

    <?php
    class obj implements Serializable {
        private $data;
        public function __construct() {
            $this->data = "My private data";
        }
        public function serialize() {
            return serialize($this->data);
        }
        public function unserialize($data) {
            $this->data = unserialize($data);
        }
        public function getData() {
            return $this->data;
        }
    }

    $obj = new obj;
    $ser = serialize($obj);

    var_dump($ser);

    $newobj = unserialize($ser);

    var_dump($newobj->getData());
    ?>

The above example will output something similar to:

    Deprecated: obj implements the Serializable interface, which is deprecated. Implement __serialize() and __unserialize() instead (or in addition, if support for old PHP versions is necessary) in script on line 2
    string(38) "C:3:"obj":23:{s:15:"My private data";}"
    string(15) "My private data"

## Table of Contents

- Serializable::serialize — String representation of object
- Serializable::unserialize — Constructs the object

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