PHP Memcached stores array, retrieves object. A bug?

Using MemcacheD v1.4.22

PECL MemcacheD library v2.2.0

PHP v5.3.19 (cli)

I am trying to store an array into cache

$array = $sql->get_arr ('SELECT properties FROM obj_properties WHERE obj_id="'.$id.'"');

var_dump($array); // output below

array(10) {
  [0]           => string(3) "976"
  ["parent"]    => string(3) "976"
  [1]           => string(5) "Ziedi"
  ["name"]      => string(5) "Ziedi"
  [2]           => string(0) ""
  ["int_name"]  => string(0) ""
  [3]           => string(1) "1"
  ["type"]      => string(1) "1"
  [4]           => string(1) "1"
  ["status"]    => string(1) "1"
}

$memcached->set( $memKey, $ret_val, $max_time );

$returnArray = $memcached->get( $memKey );

var_dump($returnArray); // output below

object(stdClass)#5 (10) {
  ["0"]         => string(3) "976"
  ["parent"]    => string(3) "976"
  ["1"]         => string(5) "Ziedi"
  ["name"]      => string(5) "Ziedi"
  ["2"]         => string(0) ""
  ["int_name"]  => string(0) ""
  ["3"]         => string(1) "1"
  ["type"]      => string(1) "1"
  ["4"]         => string(1) "1"
  ["status"]    => string(1) "1"
}

I am storing an array with mixed integer/string keys which should not be a problem for php but apparently it is for memcached? Is it documented anywhere? Any workaround or hint?

If I look at terminal output of the key:

$ telnet localhost 11211
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to localhost.
Escape character is '^]'.

get dev_id_1_04115ec378e476c56d19d827bcf8db56
VALUE dev_id_1_04115ec378e476c56d19d827bcf8db56 6 114
{"0":"976","parent":"976","1":"Ziedi","name":"Ziedi","2":"","int_name":"","3":"1","type":"1","4":"1","status":"1"}

we see that the array is actually saved as object and not as array meaning the output is correct but somehow storing converts this array into object…

Unfortunately I cannot get rid of string or int based array key elements so I will have to deal with them somehow.

Any help appreciated.

Answer

After two days of painful research it turns out that memcached configuration was set to serialize to objects in php.ini file:

memcached.serializer = "json"

changed it to

memcached.serializer = "json_array"

As always, thanks Stackoverflow – even if it does not give you the answer, it makes you think more constructive.

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Answer