php serialize huge float causes rounding and formatting issues

Solution:
Firstly, a general note: serialize should never be used on data that could be manipulated in any way. It's useful for things like session data and caches, but should not be relied on for transporting data between applications or data storage. In many cases, you're better off using a standard serialization format like JSON.
You also certainly shouldn't care what the serialized string looks like - the only thing you should do with that string is pass it back tounserialize()
. So the fact that there isE+13
is not a problem if the actual value it gives back when you unserialize is the one you wanted.
However, it's clear in your example that you have lost precision - the last digits are...29617
rather than...29617354
- so back to the point: there is a PHP settingserialize_precision
, described in the manual here. It's default value has varied over the years, but setting it to an explicit value other than -1 will serialize floats with that number of significant figures:
ini_set('serialize_precision', 2);
echo serialize(50733372961735.4), PHP_EOL;
// d:5.1E+13;
ini_set('serialize_precision', 20);
echo serialize(50733372961735.4), PHP_EOL;
// d:50733372961735.398438;
Note that the first example has clearly thrown away information, whereas the second has actually stored more precision than you realised you had - because of the inaccuracy of storing decimals in binary floating point format.
Answer
Solution:
The problem is not the serialize at all!
it's numbers in general.
$num = 50733372961735.4;
print($num);
=> 50733372961735
to "solve" this problem you can use:
ini_set('serialize_precision', 15);
Answer
Solution:
I just executed your code on www.writephponline.com
I got the below value if I did not put your value in string :-$newData = serialize(array('ep' => 50733372961735.4));
New data: a:1:{s:2:"ep";d:50733372961735.398;}
and this after adding it in string :-$newData = serialize(array('ep' => '50733372961735.4'));
New data: a:1:{s:2:"ep";s:16:"50733372961735.4";}
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