Fixes empty title fields in serialized PHP templates by replacing them with "BADTITLE". Recursively processes arrays and objects inside hash_options, then saves updated data back to a new file.

fix_empty_titles.php

#!/usr/bin/env php
<?php
/**
 * fix_empty_titles.php — v5
 * Usage: php fix_empty_titles.php in.serialized out.serialized
 */
declare(strict_types=1);
error_reporting(E_ALL);
ini_set('display_errors', 'stderr');

/* ----------------- arguments ----------------- */
if ($argc !== 3) {
    fwrite(STDERR, "Usage: php {$argv[0]} <input_file> <output_file>\n");
    exit(1);
}
[$_, $inputFile, $outputFile] = $argv;
if (!is_readable($inputFile)) {
    fwrite(STDERR, "Cannot read {$inputFile}\n");
    exit(1);
}

/* ----------------- helpers ----------------- */
function isEmptyTitle($v): bool
{
    return $v === null || (is_string($v) && trim($v) === '');
}

function fixEmptyTitles(&$data): void
{
    /* array */
    if (is_array($data)) {
        foreach ($data as $k => &$v) {
            if ($k === 'title' && isEmptyTitle($v)) {
                $v = 'BADTITLE';
            } else {
                fixEmptyTitles($v);     // <-- recursion must remain
            }
        }
        return;
    }
    /* object */
    if (is_object($data)) {
        $ro = new ReflectionObject($data);
        foreach ($ro->getProperties() as $prop) {
            $prop->setAccessible(true);
            $val = $prop->getValue($data);

            if ($prop->getName() === 'title' && isEmptyTitle($val)) {
                $prop->setValue($data, 'BADTITLE');
            } else {
                fixEmptyTitles($val);
                $prop->setValue($data, $val);
            }
        }
    }
}

/**
 * Processes the array of templates and returns the modified array.
 *
 * @param array $data
 * @return array
 */
function processTemplates(array $data): array
{
    foreach ($data as $tplKey => &$tpl) {              // & – but tpl ≠ options!
        if (!isset($tpl['hash_options'])) {
            fwrite(STDERR, "Template {$tplKey}: no hash_options\n");
            continue;
        }

        $options = @unserialize($tpl['hash_options']);
        if (!is_array($options)) {
            fwrite(STDERR, "Template {$tplKey}: bad hash_options\n");
            continue;
        }

        /* recursively fix titles */
        fixEmptyTitles($options);

        /* serialize back in one line */
        $tpl['hash_options'] = serialize($options);
    }
    unset($tpl);
    return $data;
}

/* ----------------- 1. deserialize entire file ----------------- */
$raw  = file_get_contents($inputFile);
$data = unserialize($raw, ['allowed_classes' => true]);
if ($data === false && $raw !== 'b:0;') {
    fwrite(STDERR, "unserialize() failed – input broken?\n");
    exit(1);
}

/* ----------------- 2. process templates ----------------- */
$data = processTemplates($data);

/* ----------------- 3. save result ----------------- */
file_put_contents($outputFile, serialize($data));
echo "Done: {$outputFile}\n";