What type of structure is this data?

1 Views

I have this mysql table with a field with this value: 

a:18:{
i:0;
a:7:{
        i:0;
        i:10;
        i:1;
        s:5:"Email";
        i:2;
        s:10:"user_email";
        i:3;
        s:4:"text";
        i:4;
        s:1:"y";
        i:5;
        s:1:"y";
        i:6;
        s:1:"y";
    }
i:1;
a:7:{
        i:0;
        i:1;
        i:1;
        s:10:"First Name";
        i:2;
        s:10:"first_name";
        i:3;
        s:4:"text";
        i:4;
        s:1:"y";
        i:5;
        s:1:"y";
        i:6;
        s:1:"y";
    }
i:2;
a:7:{
        i:0;
        i:2;
        i:1;
        s:9:"Last Name";
        i:2;
        s:9:"last_name";
        i:3;
        s:4:"text";
        i:4;
        s:1:"y";
        i:5;
        s:1:"y";
        i:6;
        s:1:"y";
    }
i:3;
a:7:{
        i:0;
        i:4;
        i:1;
        s:9:"Address 2";
        i:2;
        s:5:"addr2";
        i:3;
        s:4:"text";
        i:4;
        s:1:"n";
        i:5;
        s:1:"n";
        i:6;
        s:1:"n";
    }
i:4;
a:7:{
        i:0;
        i:5;
        i:1;
        s:4:"City";
        i:2;
        s:4:"city";
        i:3;
        s:4:"text";
        i:4;
        s:1:"n";
        i:5;
        s:1:"n";
        i:6;
        s:1:"n";
    }
i:5;
a:7:{
        i:0;
        i:6;
        i:1;
        s:5:"State";
        i:2;
        s:8:"thestate";
        i:3;
        s:4:"text";
        i:4;
        s:1:"n";
        i:5;
        s:1:"n";
        i:6;
        s:1:"n";
    }
i:6;
a:7:{
        i:0;
        i:7;
        i:1;
        s:3:"Zip";
        i:2;
        s:3:"zip";
        i:3;
        s:4:"text";
        i:4;
        s:1:"n";
        i:5;
        s:1:"n";
        i:6;
        s:1:"n";
    }
i:7;
a:7:{
        i:0;
        i:9;
        i:1;
        s:9:"Day Phone";
        i:2;
        s:6:"phone1";
        i:3;
        s:4:"text";
        i:4;
        s:1:"y";
        i:5;
        s:1:"y";
        i:6;
        s:1:"n";
    }
i:8;
a:7:{
        i:0;
        i:9;
        i:1;
        s:9:"Alt Phone";
        i:2;
        s:6:"phone2";
        i:3;
        s:4:"text";
        i:4;
        s:1:"y";
        i:5;
        s:1:"y";
        i:6;
        s:1:"n";
    }
i:9;
a:9:{
        i:0;
        i:9;
        i:1;
        s:9:"GENDER";
        i:2;
        s:6:"gender";
        i:3;
        s:4:"select";
        i:4;
        s:1:"y";
        i:5;
        s:1:"y";
        i:6;
        s:1:"n";
        i:7;
        s:4:"male";
        i:8;
        s:5:"female";
    }
i:10;
a:7:{
        i:0;
        i:11;
        i:1;
        s:13:"Confirm Email";
        i:2;
        s:13:"confirm_email";
        i:3;
        s:4:"text";
        i:4;
        s:1:"n";
        i:5;
        s:1:"n";
        i:6;
        s:1:"n";
    }
i:11;
a:7:{
        i:0;
        i:3;
        i:1;
        s:9:"Address 1";
        i:2;
        s:5:"addr1";
        i:3;
        s:4:"text";
        i:4;
        s:1:"n";
        i:5;
        s:1:"n";
        i:6;
        s:1:"n";
    }
i:12;
a:7:{
        i:0;
        i:8;
        i:1;
        s:7:"Country";
        i:2;
        s:7:"country";
        i:3;
        s:4:"text";
        i:4;
        s:1:"n";
        i:5;
        s:1:"n";
        i:6;
        s:1:"n";
    }
i:13;
a:7:{
        i:0;
        i:14;
        i:1;
        s:8:"Password";
        i:2;
        s:8:"password";
        i:3;
        s:8:"password";
        i:4;
        s:1:"n";
        i:5;
        s:1:"n";
        i:6;
        s:1:"n";
    }
i:14;
a:7:{
        i:0;
        i:15;
        i:1;
        s:16:"Confirm Password";
        i:2;
        s:16:"confirm_password";
        i:3;
        s:8:"password";
        i:4;
        s:1:"n";
        i:5;
        s:1:"n";
        i:6;
        s:1:"n";
    }
i:15;
a:9:{
        i:0;
        i:16;
        i:1;
        s:3:"TOS";
        i:2;
        s:3:"tos";
        i:3;
        s:8:"checkbox";
        i:4;
        s:1:"n";
        i:5;
        s:1:"n";
        i:6;
        s:1:"n";
        i:7;
        s:5:"agree";
        i:8;
        s:1:"n";
    }
i:16;
a:7:{
        i:0;
        i:12;
        i:1;
        s:7:"Website";
        i:2;
        s:8:"user_url";
        i:3;
        s:4:"text";
        i:4;
        s:1:"n";
        i:5;
        s:1:"n";
        i:6;
        s:1:"y";
    }
i:17;
a:7:{
        i:0;
        i:13;
        i:1;
        s:17:"Biographical Info";
        i:2;
        s:11:"description";
        i:3;
        s:8:"textarea";
        i:4;
        s:1:"n";
        i:5;
        s:1:"n";
        i:6;
        s:1:"y";
    }
}

I’ve seen this multiple times before in other databases, but I’m not sure what type of data type/field this is? Reason I ask because I’m trying to get make element in there for input type “select” but can’t seem to figure it out. Anyone know?

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From my understanding, the above data is serialization of form input elements, like text box, check box, etc.

So how would they serialize a select input box? For example: 

<select>
  <option value='1'>1</option>
  <option value='2'>2</option>
</select>
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1 comment

  1. It’s serialized data, most likely by the php function serialize()

    http://php.net/manual/en/function.serialize.php

    Description:

    string serialize ( mixed $value ) Generates a storable representation
    of a value.

    This is useful for storing or passing PHP values around without losing
    their type and structure.

    To make the serialized string into a PHP value again, use
    unserialize().

    Example:

    <?php
  $obj = new stdclass;
  $obj->prop1 = 1;
  $obj->prop2 = "two";
  $arr = array(0, 1, 2, array("key" => "value", "another key" => "another value"), $obj);
  print serialize($arr);
?>

    will output:
    a:5:{i:0;i:0;i:1;i:1;i:2;i:2;i:3;a:2:{s:3:"key";s:5:"value";s:11:"another key";s:13:"another value";}i:4;O:8:"stdClass":2:{s:5:"prop1";i:1;s:5:"prop2";s:3:"two";}}

    And to explain a snippet of yours, take:

    a:18:{
i:0;
a:7:{
        i:0;
        i:10;
        i:1;
        s:5:"Email";
        i:2;
        s:10:"user_email";
        i:3;
        s:4:"text";
        i:4;
        s:1:"y";
        i:5;
        s:1:"y";
        i:6;
        s:1:"y";
    }

    It’s saying the data is an array with 18 elements a:18, the element at index 0 i:0 is an array of 7 elements a:7, the element at index 0 of that array i:0 is an integer with the value 10 i:10, the element at index 1 i:1 is a string of length 5 s:5 with the value email. and so on.

    a var_dump of just the first element from your serialized data gives:

    array(1) {
  [0]=>
  array(7) {
    [0]=>
    int(10)
    [1]=>
    string(5) "Email"
    [2]=>
    string(10) "user_email"
    [3]=>
    string(4) "text"
    [4]=>
    string(1) "y"
    [5]=>
    string(1) "y"
    [6]=>
    string(1) "y"
  }
}

    To serialize your particular snippet – well, there’s a few ways to do it and i don’t have a wordpress handy to verify it, but one way would simply be to represent it in php like this:

    $input = array('type' => 'select');
$opts = array(array('value' => 1, 'text' => '1'), array('value' => 2, 'text' => '2'));
$input['options'] = $opts;
$serialized = serialize($input);

    which would give you a string that looks like
    a:2:{s:4:"type";s:6:"select";s:7:"options";a:2:{i:0;a:2:{s:5:"value";i:1;s:4:"text";s:1:"1";}i:1;a:2:{s:5:"value";i:2;s:4:"text";s:1:"2";}}}