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serialize

Definition: sequence s = serialize(object x)
Description: Converts any object to a serialized (flat series of bytes) version of it.

x: any valid object (integer, floating point, string, or [nested] sequence).

Returns: the serialized version of x.
pwa/p2js: Supported, note however that no special effort has been made to avoid calling atom_to_float80(), which is not supported under pwa/p2js, for atoms that do not fit in 64 bits. Running some things/atoms through float64_to_atom(atom_to_float64()) to crop precision might in some cases improve matters, not that I’ve tried that.
Comments: A serialized object is one that has been converted to a set of byte values.

It can then be written directly out to a file for storage, sent over’tinternet, poked into shared memory, etc.

You can use the deserialize function to convert it back into a standard phix object.
Example 1: 
integer fh = open("cust.dat", "wb")
puts(fh, serialize(FirstName))
puts(fh, serialize(LastName))
puts(fh, serialize(PhoneNumber))
puts(fh, serialize(Address))
close(fh)

fh = open("cust.dat", "rb")
FirstName = deserialize(fh)
LastName = deserialize(fh)
PhoneNumber = deserialize(fh)
Address = deserialize(fh)
close(fh)
Example 2: 
integer fh
fh = open("cust.dat", "wb")
puts(fh, serialize({FirstName,LastName,PhoneNumber,Address}))
close(fh)

fh = open("cust.dat", "rb")
{FirstName,LastName,PhoneNumber,Address} = deserialize(fh)
close(fh)
Example 3: 
include builtins\serialize.e
sequence s = serialize({"Pete",{1,0,-1},PI,-PI})
?s      -- {254,4,254,4,89,110,125,110,254,3,10,9,8,253,24,45,
        --  68,84,251,33,9,64,253,24,45,68,84,251,33,9,192}
?deserialize(s) -- {"Pete",{1,0,-1},3.141592654,-3.141592654}
See Also: deserialize
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