Preferred method to store PHP arrays (json_encode vs serialize)

Question

I need to store a multi-dimensional associative array of data in a flat file for caching purposes. I might occasionally come across the need to convert it to JSON for use in

Answer 1

If you are caching information that you will ultimately want to "include" at a later point in time, you may want to try using var_export. That way you only take the hit in the "serialize" and not in the "unserialize".