我可以将序列化数组保存到数据库，它有一些参考子数组吗？

Question

The PHP code I am interating through is as follows for the Update process:

$data = $_POST;
foreach ($data['answers'] as &$d):
    if(!isset($d['default'])):
       $d['default'] = "false";
    endif;
endforeach;

And when I var_dump it after that iteration, I get the following:

array(2) {
  ["question"]=>
  string(20) "Which did you like?"
  ["answers"]=>
  array(6) {
    [0]=>
    array(2) {
      ["default"]=>
      string(4) "true"
      ["option"]=>
      string(5) "First"
    }
    [1]=>
    &array(2) {
      ["option"]=>
      string(5) "Second"
      ["default"]=>
      string(5) "false"
    }
  }
}

As you can see, the second array has "&array" keyword, I am assuming that's implying a reference. My question is, can I serialize this array and save it into MYSQL DB? I was getting some data error on the display page after, so I want to make sure if this has anything to do with this.

UPDATE Error message I get on the display page is that Undefined index: option

Answer 1

From the docs:

serialize() handles all types, except the resource-type. You can even serialize() arrays that contain references to itself. Circular references inside the array/object you are serializing will also be stored. Any other reference will be lost.