PHP Unserialize / Serialize Online

PHP stores arrays and objects in databases with serialize() — WordPress options and post meta, sessions, cache entries — in a format like a:1:{s:3:"key";s:5:"value";}. This tool reads that format without running PHP and shows the data as JSON or exactly as print_r(), var_export() or var_dump() would print it. It also serializes JSON back into PHP format and can repair the s:N string lengths that break after a database search-and-replace.

How to use this tool

1. Paste the serialized string, for example from a WordPress option.
2. Choose how to show it: JSON, print_r, var_export or var_dump.
3. If PHP reports "Error at offset" because text was replaced, tick "Repair wrong string lengths", check the views, and copy the repaired data (it is a best guess).
4. To go the other way, choose Serialize JSON and paste JSON.

Formula

N; null · b:1; bool · i:42; int · d:0.5; float · s:5:"hello"; string (length in bytes) · a:2:{…} array · O:8:"stdClass":1:{…} object · r:2; reference

String lengths are UTF-8 byte counts, so "é" is s:2 and an emoji s:4 — the usual reason data breaks when a URL or text is replaced directly in the database. Repair is a best guess: for each broken string it takes the first "; that is followed by a valid next item as the end and rewrites the length, so a string that itself contains such text would be cut too early — always check the result. Private and protected properties are decoded from their \0Class\0name form. References (r: and R:) are followed; a reference to a containing value is shown as *RECURSION*. Floats are printed as PHP 8 does: 14 significant digits in print_r, the shortest exact form elsewhere.

Example

The sample a:4:{…} holds four values: name "Ada Lovelace" (s:12), age 36, langs — an inner array of "PHP" and "Python" — and active true; counting the array itself and the two strings inside the list, that is 7 values. As JSON it reads {"name": "Ada Lovelace", "age": 36, "langs": ["PHP", "Python"], "active": true}. After replacing http:// with https:// in a database, s:18:"https://example.com" is one byte short; repair rewrites it as s:19.