Serialize or json in PHP?

Question

So I need to encode an array in PHP and store it in plain text in MySQL database, my question is should I use serialize() or json_encode()? What are the advantages and disad

Answer 1

Well firstly serializing an array or object and storing it in a database is typically a code smell. Sometimes people end up putting a comma separated list into a column and then get into all sorts of trouble when they later find out they need to query on it.

So think very carefully about that if this is that kind of situation.

As for the differences. PHP serialize is probably more compact but only usable with PHP. JSON is cross-platform and possibly slower to encode and decode (although I doubt meaningfully so).