PHP Serialize Edit

Description

PHP Serialize Edit is a script which can be included in your projects to manipulate PHP serialized data from Python 3.

This script only needs Python 3, it uses no common or external library.

It can also be included directly in your Python script.

Installation

No particular installation, use the script as-is!

Usage

<?php
$data = array(
    "info" => array(
        "surname" => "Frederic",
        "name" => "BISSON",
        "mail" => "zigazou@protonmail.com",
    ),
    "config" => array(
        "format" => "JPEG",
        "quality" => 90,
    ),
);

print(serialize($data) . PHP_EOL);

Output of this script:

a:2:{s:4:"info";a:3:{s:7:"surname";s:8:"Frederic";s:4:"name";s:6:"BISSON";s:4:"mail";s:22:"zigazou@protonmail.com";}s:6:"config";a:2:{s:6:"format";s:4:"JPEG";s:7:"quality";i:90;}}

from php_serialize_edit import php_modify

data = b'a:2:{s:4:"info";a:3:{s:7:"surname";s:8:"Frederic";s:4:"name";s:6:"BISSON";s:4:"mail";s:22:"zigazou@protonmail.com";}s:6:"config";a:2:{s:6:"format";s:4:"JPEG";s:7:"quality";i:90;}}'
print(php_modify(data, b'S:"config"/"quality"=85'))

Output of this script:

b'a:2:{s:4:"info";a:3:{s:7:"surname";s:8:"Frederic";s:4:"name";s:6:"BISSON";s:4:"mail";s:22:"zigazou@protonmail.com";}s:6:"config";a:2:{s:6:"format";s:4:"JPEG";s:7:"quality";i:85;}}'

Querying expression

To query or modify a PHP serialized structure, this script provides a querying language.

Note: This language does not support spaces!

The querying langage offers 3 modes:

• get "G:": retrieve a specific value from a PHP serialized structure.
• set "S:": set a specific value in a PHP serialized structure.
• delete "D:": delete a specific value in a PHP serialized structure.

To point to a specific value, the querying language has selectors.

A selector is a list of keys separated by a slash "/".

Note: A selector may be empty which means it targets the root of the serialized PHP structure

A key is either:

• a string surrounded by double quotes and using anti-slash \ as the escape character.
• a number, either an integer or a float
• a boolean, either true or false (lowercase)
• a null: null

Selector examples:

• "a"/"b"/3
• "a"
• 3
• true/3

Get

The "G:" string introducing the get mode is directly followed by a selector.

It returns the pointed value or None if it cannot be found.

Get examples:

• G: returns the structure as-is
• G:0 returns the item indexed by the 0 (integer) key in a PHP array
• G:"a"/"b" returns the item indexed by "b" in a PHP array indexed by "a" in a PHP array

Set

The "S:" string introducing the set mode is followed by:

• a selector
• an equal sign =
• a value

The value can be:

• a string surrounded by double quotes and using anti-slash \ as the escape character.
• a number, either an integer or a float
• a boolean, either true or false (lowercase)
• a null: null
• an indexed array surrounded by square brackets [ and ] (key/values pair are separated by a comma , and key and values are separated by a colon :)

Note: if the selector does not point to an existing value, the entire path is created and then the value is set.

Set examples:

• S:=3 sets the value to 3 (it will always return i:3;)
• S:0=3 set the value of the first element in a PHP array to 3
• S:"a"/"b"="hello" sets the item indexed by "b" in a PHP array indexed by "a" in a PHP array to the string "hello"

Delete

The "D:" string introducing the delete mode is directly followed by a selector.

It deletes the pointed value if it exists.

Delete examples:

• D: returns an empty string
• D:0 deletes the first element in a PHP array
• D:"a"/"b" deletes the "b" key in a PHP array indexed by the "a" key in another PHP array (The "a" is not deleted)

Unserializing

This script uses an intermediate data structure to hold anything necessary to reencode a PHP structure back to its serialized version.

The intermediate data structure uses standard Python data types:

• PHP integer → Python int
• PHP double → Python float
• PHP array → Python list of tuples (key, value)
• PHP boolean → Python bool
• PHP null → Python None
• PHP object → Python tuple (class_name, list_of_properties) where list_of_properties is a list of tuples (key, value)

License

MIT License