Reverting unpack('C*', “string”)

Question

I would like to know how I can reverse what this unpack function bellow performed. I think the pack function is able to reverse what unpack performed, however I\'m not sure.

Answer 1

You should use call_user_func_array to revert unpack('C*', “string”), like this:

call_user_func_array('pack', array_merge(array('C*'), $array )))

Answer 2

When you're on PHP 5.6, you should consider using argument unpacking as it is about 4 to 5 times faster than using call_user_func_array:

pack('C*', ...$array);

And when you're on PHP 5.5 or lower, you should consider using ReflectionFunction, which seems to be a bit faster than call_user_func_array:

$packFunction = new ReflectionFunction('pack');
$packFunction->invokeArgs(array_merge(array('C*'), $array));