Persisting PHP Arrays to Files with serialize, var_export, and Custom Functions

In PHP, arrays can be saved to a file and later restored, providing a simple way to cache data or keep configuration without a database.

Method 1: serialize() converts the array to a storable string, writes it with file_put_contents(), and restores it using unserialize() after reading the file.

$file='file_path';
$array=array('s'=>array('aaa','bbb','ccc'),'d'=>array('111','222','222'));
if(false!==fopen($file,'w+')){
    file_put_contents($file,serialize($array));
}
$handle=fopen($file,'r');
$cacheArray=unserialize(fread($handle,filesize($file)));

Method 2: var_export() writes the array directly as valid PHP code, which can be included later; this approach is recommended for readability.

$file='file_path';
$array=array('s'=>array('aaa','bbb','ccc'),'d'=>array('111','222','222'));
$text=var_export($array,true);
if(false!==fopen($file,'w+')){
    file_put_contents($file,$text);
}else{
    echo '创建失败';
}

Method 3: Custom array-to-string function creates a standard PHP array representation, writes it to a file, and provides helper functions cache_write(), arrayeval(), and writefile() to handle formatting and file operations.

$file='file_path';
$array=array('s'=>array('aaa','bbb','ccc'),'d'=>array('111','222','222'));
cache_write($file,$array,'rows',false);
function cache_write($filename,$values,$var='rows',$format=false){
    $cachefile=$filename;
    $cachetext=arrayeval($values,$format);
    return writefile($cachefile,$cachetext);
}
function arrayeval($array,$format=false,$level=0){
    $space=$line='';
    if(!$format){
        for($i=0;$i<=$level;$i++){$space.="\t";}
        $line="
";
    }
    $evaluate='Array'.$line.$space.'(';
    $comma=$space;
    foreach($array as $key=>$val){
        $key=is_string($key)?'\''.addcslashes($key,"'\\").'\'':$key;
        $val=!is_array($val)&&(!preg_match('/^-?\d+$/',$val)||strlen($val)>12)?'\''.addcslashes($val,"'\\").'\'':$val;
        if(is_array($val)){
            $evaluate.=$comma.$key.'=>'.arrayeval($val,$format,$level+1);
        }else{
            $evaluate.=$comma.$key.'=>'.$val;
        }
        $comma=','.$line.$space;
    }
    $evaluate.=$line.$space.')';
    return $evaluate;
}
function writefile($filename,$writetext,$openmod='w'){
    if(false!==$fp=fopen($filename,$openmod)){
        flock($fp,2);
        fwrite($fp,$writetext);
        fclose($fp);
        return true;
    }else{
        return false;
    }
}

All three approaches allow PHP developers to persist array data efficiently, choosing between binary serialization, human‑readable PHP code, or a custom formatted output depending on the project’s needs.