PHP Guide

The PHP implementation is a native C++ extension that works with associative arrays, indexed arrays, and PHP scalars.

Minimum Version

• PHP 8.4+

Implementation Model

• Text encode infers schema from PHP arrays and values.
• Text decode reads the schema embedded in the text and returns PHP arrays.
• Binary decode requires an explicit schema argument because binary ASUN is not self-describing.

Current Support

• asun_encode, asun_encodeTyped
• asun_encodePretty, asun_encodePrettyTyped
• asun_decode
• asun_encodeBinary, asun_decodeBinary

Example

$users = [
    ['id' => 1, 'name' => 'Alice', 'active' => true],
    ['id' => 2, 'name' => 'Bob', 'active' => false],
];

$typed = asun_encodeTyped($users);
$rows = asun_decode($typed);

$bin = asun_encodeBinary($users);
$rows2 = asun_decodeBinary($bin, '[{id@int,name@str,active@bool}]');

Notes

• asun_decodeBinary needs a schema argument.
• For keyed data, keep using entry-list arrays such as [{key@str,value@str}].

Build and Test

cd asun-php
phpize
./configure --enable-asun
make -j4
make test REPORT_EXIT_STATUS=1 NO_INTERACTION=1
php -d extension=modules/asun.so examples/basic.php
php -d extension=modules/asun.so examples/bench.php