Storing Array

[orang]

I know two ways to store an array into a file in PHP. But I'm not sure which one is faster in performance.
1. Storing array in php file. Just write out the structure of the array and use "include".
2. Serialize the array and then use fread when we need the array.

I do some benchmarking. It shows that using serialize is faster then using an "include". I heard that doing "include" is slow in php just like using "eval". Is there any other way to store an array with a high performance when we want to retrieve it?

[devinemke]

Originally posted by orang
I do some benchmarking. It shows that using serialize is faster then using an "include".

i read this and was thinking to myself: no way, including a file would be much faster then grabbing a files contents an then unserializing, but like you i did some benchmarking of my own and, i'll be damned, unserializing does have a slight edge. this is the test i did:

method #1

test_array.php

<?php
$array = array(
	1 => 'one',
	2 => 'two',
	3 => 'three',
	4 => 'four',
	5 => 'five',
	6 => 'six',
	7 => 'seven',
	8 => 'eight',
	9 => 'nine',
	10 => 'ten'
);
?>

and then...

include('test_array.php');

method #2

test_serialized.txt

a:10:{i:1;s:3:"one";i:2;s:3:"two";i:3;s:5:"three";i:4;s:4:"four";i:5;s:4:"five";i:6;s:3:"six";i:7;s:5:"seven";i:8;s:5:"eight";i:9;s:4:"nine";i:10;s:3:"ten";}';

and then...

$contents = file_get_contents('test_serialized.php');
$array = unserialize($contents);