How to Unserialize a PHP Serialized String?

Understanding and Unserializing Serialized Strings

In your case, you have a serialized string of the following format:

a:2:{i:0;s:7:"Abogado";i:1;s:7:"Notario";}

To answer your questions:

What kind of string is this?

This is a serialized string, a representation of an array in a specific format. It encodes information about the array, including key-value pairs and the types of values.

How can I unserialize it and get the array out of it?

You can unserialize this string using PHP's unserialize() function. Here's an example:

$str = 'a:2:{i:0;s:7:"Abogado";i:1;s:7:"Notario";}';
$result = unserialize($str);

The output of print_r($result) will be:

Array ( [0] => Abogado [1] => Notario )

Important Notes:

• Serialized strings may return FALSE if there's an error or if they represent a serialized FALSE value. Comparing the string with serialize(false) or catching the E_NOTICE exception can handle these cases.
• For security reasons, do not deserialize untrusted user input. Unserialization can execute code, and malicious users may exploit this. Consider using a safer data interchange format like JSON instead.

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