This is what I was able to come up with myself. I was encouraged by a post about parsing JSON and decided to figure it out for serialized php objects. I took a completely different approach though.
Updated code examples are now published here on github.
The serialized php string:
a:3:{
i:0;
a:5:{
s:1:"i";
s:2:"10";
s:1:"c";
s:12:"045EMJJWRCF1";
s:1:"a";
d:100;
s:2:"ba";
d:100;
s:10:"authorized";
d:100;
}
i:1;
a:5:{
s:1:"i";
s:2:"11";
s:1:"c";
s:12:"06DUQ7Z5GVT7";
s:1:"a";
d:101;
s:2:"ba";
d:101;
s:10:"authorized";
d:101;
}
i:2;
a:5:{
s:1:"i";
s:2:"12";
s:1:"c";
s:12:"07A6MRYW511J";
s:1:"a";
d:102;
s:2:"ba";
d:102;
s:10:"authorized";
d:102;
}
}
My query to get the results:
select *
from parsePhpSerializedString('a:3:{i:0;a:5:{s:1:"i";s:2:"10";s:1:"c";s:12:"045EMJJWRCF1";s:1:"a";d:100;s:2:"ba";d:100;s:10:"authorized";d:100;}i:1;a:5:{s:1:"i";s:2:"11";s:1:"c";s:12:"06DUQ7Z5GVT7";s:1:"a";d:101;s:2:"ba";d:101;s:10:"authorized";d:101;}i:2;a:5:{s:1:"i";s:2:"12";s:1:"c";s:12:"07A6MRYW511J";s:1:"a";d:102;s:2:"ba";d:102;s:10:"authorized";d:102;}}')
The results of the query:
element_id parent_id var_name var_type var_length value_int value_string value_decimal
----------- ----------- -------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- ----------- ----------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
1 0 NULL a 3 NULL NULL NULL
2 1 0 a 5 NULL NULL NULL
3 1 1 a 5 NULL NULL NULL
4 1 2 a 5 NULL NULL NULL
5 2 i s 2 NULL 10 NULL
6 2 c s 12 NULL 045EMJJWRCF1 NULL
7 2 a d NULL NULL NULL 100
8 2 ba d NULL NULL NULL 100
9 2 authorized d NULL NULL NULL 100
10 3 i s 2 NULL 11 NULL
11 3 c s 12 NULL 06DUQ7Z5GVT7 NULL
12 3 a d NULL NULL NULL 101
13 3 ba d NULL NULL NULL 101
14 3 authorized d NULL NULL NULL 101
15 4 i s 2 NULL 12 NULL
16 4 c s 12 NULL 07A6MRYW511J NULL
17 4 a d NULL NULL NULL 102
18 4 ba d NULL NULL NULL 102
19 4 authorized d NULL NULL NULL 102
If I just wanted the gift card codes I can write a query like this:
select value_string
from parsePhpSerializedString('a:3:{i:0;a:5:{s:1:"i";s:2:"10";s:1:"c";s:12:"045EMJJWRCF1";s:1:"a";d:100;s:2:"ba";d:100;s:10:"authorized";d:100;}i:1;a:5:{s:1:"i";s:2:"11";s:1:"c";s:12:"06DUQ7Z5GVT7";s:1:"a";d:101;s:2:"ba";d:101;s:10:"authorized";d:101;}i:2;a:5:{s:1:"i";s:2:"12";s:1:"c";s:12:"07A6MRYW511J";s:1:"a";d:102;s:2:"ba";d:102;s:10:"authorized";d:102;}}')
where parent_id != 0 and
var_name = 'c'
Results:
value_string
-------------
045EMJJWRCF1
06DUQ7Z5GVT7
07A6MRYW511J
Here is the T-SQL function for parsing the serialized PHP string:
IF OBJECT_ID (N'dbo.parsePhpSerializedString') IS NOT NULL
DROP FUNCTION dbo.parsePhpSerializedString
GO
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.parsePhpSerializedString( @phpSerialized VARCHAR(MAX))
RETURNS @results table
(
element_id int identity(1,1) not null, /* internal surrogate primary key gives the order of parsing and the list order */
parent_id int, /* if the element has a parent then it is in this column. */
var_name varchar(50), /* the name or key of the element in a key/value array list */
var_type varchar(50),
var_length int,
value_int int,
value_string varchar(max),
value_decimal numeric
)
AS
BEGIN
/*
Built by Matt Johnson (matt@evdat.com) 2012-08-14
*/
-- we use this table later for collecting auto generated
-- identity values when inserting records into @results
declare @insertedIds table (
element_id int
)
-- define variables
declare @element_start int
declare @var_type_end int
declare @var_type varchar(50)
declare @element_end int
declare @chunk varchar(max)
declare @var_length_start int
declare @var_length_end int
declare @var_length_string varchar(max)
declare @var_length int
declare @value_start int
declare @value_end int
declare @value_string varchar(max)
declare @value_int int
declare @value_decimal numeric
declare @array_level int
declare @value_string_position int
declare @next_open int
declare @next_close int
declare @parent_id int
declare @element_id int
declare @key_element_id int
declare @inserted_element_id int
declare @var_name varchar(50)
--initialize variables
set @parent_id = 0
--loop through the supplied @phpSerialized string until it's empty
while 1=1 begin
set @element_start = null
set @var_type_end = null
set @var_type = null
set @element_end = null
set @chunk = null
set @var_length_start = null
set @var_length_end = null
set @var_length_string = null
set @var_length = null
set @value_start = null
set @value_end = null
set @value_string = null
set @value_int = null
set @value_decimal = null
set @array_level = null
set @value_string_position = null
set @next_open = null
set @next_close = null
set @var_name = null
--confirm that there is an element to parse and define its starting point
--patindex will return a value of 1 if the pattern is found and this pattern
--will only match if the element starting point is the first character in the
--supplied string. If it is encapsulated in quotes or anything else it will not match
set @element_start = patindex('[asid]:%[;}]', @phpSerialized)
if @element_start <= 0 begin
--if the supplied string is now empty check the existing results table
--for any nested elements in any array elements
--reset the value of @element_id to be safe
set @element_id = null
--only retrieve the first element found containing sub elements to parse
select top 1
@phpSerialized = value_string,
@element_id = element_id
from @results
where var_type = 'a' and
value_string is not null
--set the parent_id to the array's element_id
set @parent_id = @element_id
--if there were no results found then that means there either
--were no arrays to parse, or all arrays have already been parsed
--so break the continuous loop because we are completely done now
if @element_id is null break
--set the @element_start again now that we
--have a new string to parse for elements
set @element_start = patindex('[asid]:%[;}]', @phpSerialized)
end
--find the end of the type of the element then extract the variable type from the string
set @var_type_end = patindex('%:%', @phpSerialized)
set @var_type = substring(@phpSerialized, @element_start, @var_type_end-@element_start)
--generate an error if a variable type is supplied that hasn't been coded for.
if @var_type not like '[asid]' begin
/*
print @var_type
RAISERROR (N'Error parsing php serialized string. Variable type found that has not been defined to parse for.', -- Message text.
16, -- Severity,
1 -- State
)
*/
--apparently errors can't be raised within a function so skip the element
break
end
--array elements contain sub elements so we use different methods for parsing
--sub elements than we do for parsing individual elements.
if @var_type != 'a' begin
--element has no sub elements
--determine the end of this individual element and then extract
--only this individual element from the string
set @element_end = patindex('%;%', @phpSerialized)+1
set @chunk = substring(@phpSerialized, @element_start, @element_end-@element_start)
--strings are serialized differently than numeric elements
if @var_type = 's' begin
--element has var length
--find the starting and ending positions for the var_length and then extract the length
set @var_length_start = @var_type_end+1
set @var_length_end = patindex('%:%', substring(@chunk, @var_length_start, len(@chunk))) + @var_length_start - 1
set @var_length_string = substring(@chunk, @var_length_start, @var_length_end-@var_length_start)
if @var_length_string not like '[^0-9]' begin
--its nice to verify this is actually a number before casting it as such
set @var_length = cast(@var_length_string as int)
end
--find the starting and ending positions for the value and then extract the value
set @value_start = @var_length_end+1
set @value_end = patindex('%;%', @chunk)
--a string value is quoted so remove quotes in start and end of substring for value
--we set the substring starting position +1 just past the start of the quote and then
--set the length of the extracted string -2 to account for both the starting quote and
--ending quote to be removed from the extracted string.
set @value_string = substring(@chunk, @value_start+1, @value_end-@value_start-2)
end else begin
--element does not have a var length
--find the starting and ending positions for the value and then extract the value as a string
set @value_start = @var_type_end+1
set @value_end = patindex('%;%', @chunk)
set @value_string = substring(@chunk, @value_start, @value_end-@value_start)
--determine what value type the string should be converted to
if @var_type = 'i' begin
if @value_string not like '[^0-9.]' begin
set @value_int = cast(@value_string as int)
--clear the value_string because the element's value has been converted to its appropriate type
set @value_string = null
end
end else if @var_type = 'd' begin
if @value_string not like '[^0-9.]' begin
set @value_decimal = cast(@value_string as numeric)
--clear the value_string because the element's value has been converted to its appropriate type
set @value_string = null
end
end
end
end else begin
--element is array and has sub elements
--we are going to chop up the string to try and determine its end so we'll
--first set the string to a variable we can destroy in this process
set @chunk = @phpSerialized
--find the starting and ending positions for the var_length and then extract the length
--arrays use this to state how may elements this array contains
set @var_length_start = @var_type_end+1
set @var_length_end = patindex('%:%', substring(@chunk, @var_length_start, len(@chunk))) + @var_length_start - 1
set @var_length_string = substring(@chunk, @var_length_start, @var_length_end-@var_length_start)
if @var_length_string not like '[^0-9]' begin
set @var_length = cast(@var_length_string as int)
end
--find the value starting position
--later we will find the true end of the value
set @value_start = @var_length_end+1
-- to determine the ending position we have to dig through the sub elements and track the
-- nested level to identify the ending brace for this level
set @array_level = 0
--we start the string position at 1 for the begining of the serialized string
set @value_string_position = 1
-- loop through the value chopping up the chunk while trying to find the ending brace for this array
while 1=1 begin
--find the next open and close braces in the chunk
set @next_open = patindex('%{%', @chunk)
set @next_close = patindex('%}%', @chunk)
--check to see which brace is the next in the chunk
if @next_open > 0 and @next_open < @next_close begin
--found an opening brace
--since this is an opening brace we need to increment the level and strip off
--everything from the chunk before the brace so that we can search for additional braces
--we also note the position in the string for use in finding the end of the value later
--we track the previous position and add to it because we keep chopping off the beginning of
--the chunk as we parse through the string, and later we will need to reference the position
--relative to the entire serialized string.
set @value_string_position = @value_string_position + patindex('%{%', @chunk)-1
set @chunk = substring(@chunk, patindex('%{%', @chunk)+1, len(@chunk))
set @array_level = @array_level + 1
end else if @next_close > 0 begin
--found a closing brace
--print 'found close at level: ' + cast(@array_level as varchar(10)) + '(' + cast(patindex('%}%', @chunk) as varchar(10)) + ')'
--since this is a closing brace we need to decrement the level and strip off
--everything from the chunk before the brace so that we can search for additional braces
--we also note the position in the string for use in finding the end of the value later
--we track the previous position and add to it because we keep chopping off the beginning of
--the chunk as we parse through the string, and later we will need to reference the position
--relative to the entire serialized string.
set @value_string_position = @value_string_position + patindex('%}%', @chunk)+1
set @chunk = substring(@chunk, patindex('%}%', @chunk)+1, len(@chunk))
set @array_level = @array_level - 1
end else break
--once we get back to level 0 we know we've found the end of this array element
--so break the continuous loop now that we have the ending position
if @array_level <= 0 break
end
--set the ending position of the element and the value since the value is the last part of the element
set @element_end = @value_string_position
set @value_end = @element_end
--an array value is surrounded by braces so remove the braces in start and end of the substring value
--we set the substring starting position +1 just past the start of the opening brace and then
--set the length of the extracted string -2 to account for both the opening brace and
--closing brace to be removed from the extracted string.
set @value_string = substring(@phpSerialized, @value_start+1, @value_end-@value_start-2)
set @chunk = substring(@phpSerialized, @element_start, @element_end-@element_start)
-- if the array is empty just set it to null so that
-- we don't try and parse the contents of the array value later.
if @value_string = '' set @value_string = null
end
--we populate the results table differently depending on the element that is being parsed.
--Any element contained in an array has a key element and a value element. Though we parse
--all key elements in an array all we do with them in the results table is set their value
--as the var_name (key) for the element, and store the key_element_id for setting the value
--in the next pass since key/value pairs are listed sequentially in a serialized string.
if @parent_id > 0 and @key_element_id > 0 begin
--parent_id > 0 indicates this is a sub element inside an array
--and the array contents currently being parsed contain key elements and value
--elements sequentially in the serialized string. Because key_element_id is not 0
--we know this must be the value part of the element contained in the array as the
--key was just previously defined.
--update the existing keyed element with it's type, length and value
update @results
set var_type = @var_type,
var_length = @var_length,
value_string = @value_string,
value_int = @value_int,
value_decimal = @value_decimal
where element_id = @key_element_id
set @key_element_id = null
end else if @parent_id > 0 begin
--this element is a part of the array which contains key/value paris and since
--the @key_element_id is 0 or not defined we can asume this is the key of the pair
--determine what the key element type is and cast it as a string to the var_name
if @var_type = 'i' set @var_name = cast(@value_int as varchar(50))
if @var_type = 'd' set @var_name = cast(@value_decimal as varchar(50))
if @var_type = 's' set @var_name = @value_string
--here we are assuming that all keys should be of type s, d, or i... so we if get anything
--other than that throw an error since this code is not setup to handle that.
if @var_type not like '[sid]' begin
/*
print @var_type
RAISERROR (N'Error parsing php serialized string. Variable type found that should be akey but is not of type s, d, or i.', -- Message text.
16, -- Severity,
1 -- State
)
*/
--apparently errors can't be raised within a function so skip the element
break
end
--insert a new record into the results table defining the parent_id and var_name
insert @results
(
parent_id,
var_name
)
output inserted.element_id into @insertedIds
values (
@parent_id,
@var_name
)
--since we stored the identity value in the output set that value to @inserted_element_id
select top 1 @inserted_element_id = element_id from @insertedIds
delete from @insertedIds
--set the key_element_id so that the next pass catches the value and assigns it to this result record
set @key_element_id = @inserted_element_id
end else begin
--this will be executed for parsed strings that are not part of an array
--in which case the elements do not contain value_name keys
--insert the entire element details into the results table
insert into @results
(
parent_id,
var_type,
var_length,
value_string,
value_int,
value_decimal
)
output inserted.element_id into @insertedIds
values (
@parent_id,
@var_type,
@var_length,
@value_string,
@value_int,
@value_decimal
)
--here we capture the identiy value for the inserted record
select top 1 @inserted_element_id = element_id from @insertedIds
delete from @insertedIds
end
-- if the current php serilized string was an array then it would have
-- been parsed and elements added to the results, so we should remove
-- the value_string from the array element in the results table so that
-- it doesn't get parsed again in the loop.
if @element_id is not null begin
--the only strings that get parsed where the @element_id has
--a value is from an array element
update @results
set value_string = null
where element_id = @element_id
end
--since we have parsed this element from the serialized string chop off this element
--from the string and run the rest of it through the loop again to ensure all
--elements have been parsed from the supplied serialized string.
set @phpSerialized = substring(@phpSerialized, @element_end, len(@phpSerialized))
end
return
end
And though it doesn't account for all serialized types and such, it was enough for my purpose here, and the included comments should help to guide anyone that needs to adapt it for their own use, or extend it's functionality.