Title: WP_OPTIONS table, active_plugins entry
Last modified: August 30, 2016

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# WP_OPTIONS table, active_plugins entry

 *  Resolved [colekata](https://wordpress.org/support/users/colekata/)
 * (@colekata)
 * [10 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wp_options-table-active_plugins-entry/)
 * Here is a sample entry from the **active_plugins** entry:
 * `a:5:{i:0;s:35:"add-from-server/add-from-server.php";i:1;s:25:"age-verify/age-
   verify.php";i:2;s:19:"jetpack/jetpack.php";i:4;s:69:"simple-full-screen-background-
   image/simple-full-screen-background.php";i:6;s:27:"wp-super-cache/wp-cache.php";}`
 * **My question is what are these _s:_ entries?** (s:35, s:19, s:27)

Viewing 1 replies (of 1 total)

 *  Thread Starter [colekata](https://wordpress.org/support/users/colekata/)
 * (@colekata)
 * [10 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wp_options-table-active_plugins-entry/#post-6719380)
 * That entry is a PHP serialized array. The serialize method takes an array and
   stores it’s value as a string so it can be stored elsewhere – like a database.
 * In the above example, the “s:” entries stand for “string:”. With a serialized
   array, each element’s data type is represented by a letter (a, s, o, etc) followed
   by a colon, then an optional length, and then a value. So…
 * > a:5:{i:0;s:35:”add-from-server/add-from-server.php”
 *     ```
       a:5:{... - array, 5 elements
        i:0 - integer, value of 0
        s:35:"add-from-server/add-from-server.php" - a string that is 35 characters long, and then the string itself
       ```
   
 * by the way, one should always interact with these by using the PHP methods to
   serialize and unserialize – if you removed the “.php” from that string above,
   you would break serialization unless you also changed the length in “s:35” to“
   s:31” (since four characters were removed). It’s easy to break a WordPress installation
   by hand-editing serialized arrays.

Viewing 1 replies (of 1 total)

The topic ‘WP_OPTIONS table, active_plugins entry’ is closed to new replies.

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 1 reply
 * 1 participant
 * Last reply from: [colekata](https://wordpress.org/support/users/colekata/)
 * Last activity: [10 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wp_options-table-active_plugins-entry/#post-6719380)
 * Status: resolved

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