Passing arrays as url parameter

Question

What is the best way that I can pass an array as a url parameter? I was thinking if this is possible:

$aValues = array();

$url = \'http://www.example.com?a         


        

Answer 1

Easiest way would be to use the serialize function.

It serializes any variable for storage or transfer. You can read about it in the php manual - serialize

The variable can be restored by using unserialize

So in the passing to the URL you use:

$url = urlencode(serialize($array))

and to restore the variable you use

$var = unserialize(urldecode($_GET['array']))

Be careful here though. The maximum size of a GET request is limited to 4k, which you can easily exceed by passing arrays in a URL.

Also, its really not quite the safest way to pass data! You should probably look into using sessions instead.