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<h2 class="title">Phar File Format</h2>
<p class="para">
The phar file format is literally laid out as stub/manifest/contents/signature, and
stores the crucial information of what is included in the phar archive in its
<em>manifest</em>.
</p>
<p class="para">
The Phar manifest is a highly optimized format that allows per-file
specification of file compression, file permissions, and even user-defined
meta-data such as file user or group. All values greater than 1 byte are stored
in little-endian byte order, with the exception of the API version, which
for historical reasons is stored as 3 nibbles in big-endian order.
</p>
<p class="para">
All unused flags are reserved for future use, and must not be used
to store custom information. Use the per-file meta-data facility
to store customized information about particular files.
</p>
<p class="para">
The basic file format of a Phar archive manifest is as follows:
</p>
<p class="para">
<table class="doctable table">
<caption><strong>Global Phar manifest format</strong></caption>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Size in bytes</th>
<th>Description</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody class="tbody">
<tr>
<td>4 bytes</td>
<td>Length of manifest in bytes (1 MB limit)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>4 bytes</td>
<td>Number of files in the Phar</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2 bytes</td>
<td>API version of the Phar manifest (currently 1.0.0)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>4 bytes</td>
<td>Global Phar bitmapped flags</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>4 bytes</td>
<td>Length of Phar alias</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>??</td>
<td>Phar alias (length based on previous)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>4 bytes</td>
<td>Length of Phar metadata (<em>0</em> for none)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>??</td>
<td>Serialized Phar Meta-data, stored in <span class="function"><a href="function.serialize.html" class="function">serialize()</a></span> format</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>at least 24 * number of entries bytes</td>
<td>entries for each file</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
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