Converting ‘scalars’

A scalar in PHP is anything that is not an object (in PHP: !is_object(1) === true).

# Booleans
langutil.php.generate_scalar(True) == 'true'
langutil.php.generate_scalar(True, True) == 'TRUE'

# None turns into null
langutil.php.generate_scalar(None) == 'null'
langutil.php.generate_scalar(None, True) == 'null'

# Numbers are untouched
langutil.php.generate_scalar(1) == '1'
langutil.php.generate_scalar(2.5) == '2.5'

# Strings use single quotes unless it is necessary to use double quotes
# Double quotes are only necessary if the character has any control codes
langutil.php.generate_scalar('php code!') == ''php code!''
langutil.php.generate_scalar('this string has\nnew lines') == '"this string has\nnew lines"'

Converting lists, tuples, dictionaries, etc

These types all resolve to the same type in PHP: the ‘PHP array’. The generate_array() function handles recursive structures but may fail to detect special objects’ underlying structure unless they implement methods like __dict__().

All strings (including keys for dictionaries) will default to single quotes unless double quotes are necessary.

The output will use new lines and two-space indents.

langutil.php.generate_array([]) == 'array();'
langutil.php.generate_array(tuple([])) == 'array();'
langutil.php.generate_array(set(tuple([]))) == 'array();'
langutil.php.generate_array({}) == 'array();'

langutil.php.generate_array([
    1,
    2,
])

array(
    1,
    2,
);

langutil.php.generate_array({
  'special': '\n',
  'special\x05': 'a string',
  'key': 1,
  'list': [1,2,3],
})

array(
  'key' => 1,
  'list' => array(
    1,
    2,
    3,
  ),
  "special\x05" => 'a string',
  'special' => "\n",
);

Serialisation

Use php.serialize(data_arg) for serialising data in PHP’s special serialisation format. The module will try to use the module phpserialize for this first but has a fallback version in pure Python for simple values (does not handle ‘classes’, references, or ‘objects’).

Note that the types list, tuple, set, and dict become PHP arrays (the serialisation format requires ‘keys’ to be created for lists so these become integers but should be an equivalent ‘integer-based array’ in PHP (the number keys do not become string keys).

To unserialize, use php.unserialize(str_arg) which requires the phpserialize module.