options creation for plugins

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I am new to wordpress and learning to create plugins.
I want to know how wordpress itself create options in ‘wp_options’ table for plugin during plugin installation or activation?
How wordpress decide about these option values, which is sometimes serialized data?

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  1. There are some functions associated with manipulating the variables found in the wp_options table.

    add_option(): Create a new value in the table. Example add_option('var_name', 'value') will store option_name = 'var_name' and option_value = 'value'. add_option() is used only when saving a value for the first time. Has an autoload parameter.

    get_option(): Retrieve that value. Example: get_option('var_name') will return the string value.

    update_option(). Will update the value of an option. Can also be used instead of add_option(), but it lacks the autoload parameter.

    As for serializing data, WordPress will do it automatically if you use the above options with an array.

  2. WordPress includes a Settings API, that handles all aspects of registering and updating options. I would strongly recommend using the Settings API rather than using add_option()/update_option() directly.

    I’ve written a tutorial on implementing the Settings API in Themes; Plugins would be almost identical, except they would use add_options_page() instead of add_appearance_page().

    More specific answers would require a more specific question.