Re: passing arrays

Jason Jacobs wrote: > Hi all. I'm trying to pass an array to another page, and I'm not having > luck. I thought maybe it would do something slick by passing it in the > url, but it doesn't. So, how can I pass the array? You can pass an array between pages by using the serialize() and unserialize() functions in conjunction with rawurlencode(). Serializing a variable is kind of like freezing food. You freeze food so that you can store it for later use. Serializing does roughly the same thing for a variable, converting a 'fresh' variable into a string that you can store and then 'thaw' for later use. The basic steps to use serialize to transfer data between pages are: 0.) Page foo.php has an array that it wants to pass to bar.php $array = array ('doe', 'diddy', 'dee', 'dum'); 1.) Serialize the array $serialized_array = serialize ($array); 2.) Make the serialized data safe for transport via http by passing it to rawurlencode() $serialized_array = rawurlencode ($serialized_array); 3.) Pass the serialized array to another page via GET. (You could also use a form and POST) echo "The serialized array looks like this: $serialized_array<br>"; <a href="bar.php?array=<?php echo $serialized_array ?>">Send</a> 4.) Unserialize the array at page bar.php (You may need to call stripslashes() on the passed data - review the magic_quotes directives in your php.ini file for more information) $array = unserialize (stripslashes ($array)); 5.) Voilà! Garnish with a 'Powered by PHP Logo' and it is ready to serve. ;) Good Luck! --zak