unserialize: Error at offset 446 of 23435 bytes in variable_initialize()

What may have happened is that the variable value has been corrupted in the database in some way, try removing it from the database by either running the following PHP code (with the devel module) or SQL query.

variable_delete('update_notify_emails');

or

DELETE FROM variable WHERE name = 'update_notify_emails'

I having some similar
Notice: unserialize() [function.unserialize]: Error at offset 2 of 8 bytes in variable_initialize() (line 749 of /home/h29638/data/www/helpfactory.com.ua/includes/bootstrap.inc).
So just tried to use SQL query
DELETE FROM variable WHERE name = 'update_notify_emails'
And have no effect, notice is prolongs further. May be my problem is some different??
Help me to find a fix for this please...

It will be a different variable that is causing your issue, run:

SELECT name, LENGTH( value ) , value
FROM variable
WHERE LENGTH( value ) = "8"

To find out the potential variables that might be causing the issue, find the one that is broken, and delete it from the database.

Similar problem here:

•Notice: unserialize() [function.unserialize]: Error at offset 446 of 23435 bytes in variable_initialize() (line 748 of /home/hoslot5/public_html/includes/bootstrap.inc).
•Notice: unserialize() [function.unserialize]: Error at offset 44 of 45 bytes in variable_initialize() (line 748 of /home/hoslot5/public_html/includes/bootstrap.inc).

Right, let's just provide a simple step-by-step guide:

If you're getting an error like this:

Notice: unserialize() [function.unserialize]: Error at offset X of Y bytes in variable_initialize()...

Then the important number is: Y.

Run this SQL query (replacing Y with the number from the error message):

SELECT name, LENGTH( value ) , value
FROM variable
WHERE LENGTH( value ) = Y

Then, if there are multiple records returned try to identify the one causing the issue. Once you have the name of the variable causing the issue, run, replacing NAME with the name you have found:

DELETE FROM variable WHERE name = 'NAME'

Thanks for the explanation, worked like a charm!

Fantastic new module out that takes care of all these notices

http://drupal.org/project/variablecheck

#9 @Steven Jones

Thanks for the clear instructions - seems to have worked.

The only question I have is this:

I got about 5 records. I wasn't sure which one was "causing the issue", so I deleted all of them using the provided command.

Could this be an issue later?

Thanks,

CarbonPig

@Steven Jones - After much head scratching with this issue, I stumbled across this thread and it worked a treat. Thanks alot!

Thanks for the link, I had a similar problem, installed this module (variablecheck) and it found an old variable for an earlier version of the Zen theme, which I had used before using a different theme and then upgrading Drupal from 6.x to 7.x

Thanks! This problem has been plaguing me for six months -- now I could finally solve it with the Variable Check module and deleting the "bad" variables. Perfect!

thanks
#9 worked great

#9 solved this issue. And, the Variable Check module makes it super easy. http://drupal.org/project/variablecheck

Thanks!

great,thanks

great explanation by Steven Jones at #9. Thanks!

Using Drupal 7 and Sqlite3, I am getting this same unserialize error. I've isolated the variables causing it. Each is an array of blobs with strings, and each contains a line feed character, '0a'. There are no other values in the variable table which contain line feeds, so I am assuming that these characters are causing the problem. Other answers here seem to suggest deleting these variables, but as far as I can tell they are used by the web site software. Why would I want to do this? Also, what would VariableCheck do to solve this problem? Thanks for any help people can give.

https://drupal.org/project/variablecheck module helped

DELETE FROM variable WHERE name = 'taxonomy_xml_url'

I have a similar issue, I get the following error when adding a new content with a matrix field:

Notice : unserialize(): Error at offset 401 of 3920 bytes in matrix_field_widget_form() (line 202 in /homepages/45/d444012100/htdocs/smq/sites/all/modules/matrix/matrix.module).

I received this error after (during?) a core update of drupal.

Notice: unserialize(): Error at offset 11 of 35 bytes in variable_initialize() (line936 of /var/www/vhosts/3/101684/webspace/siteapps/Drupal-12836/htdocs/includes/bootstrap.inc).

I installed the variable check module (http://drupal.org/project/variablecheck) which identified the bad value:

update_notify_emails a:1:{i:0;s:26:"user@email.com";}
But this is indicating that the function is expecting an array, not just a string so I couldn't just set a new value, and when I checked the value table in the mysql db the data value was a blob and I couldn't edit it. Not knowing what module set that value and what might break if I simply deleted it I decided to try "re-setting" the array to clear it out.

Google told me that "update_notify_emails" is called in the update module into modules, clicked congfigure for Update Manager
and edited the value for "E-mail addresses to notify when updates are available" (mine was blank). Since the error indicated it was expecting both an int and a string I also flipped the setting on "Only security updates" so that value was passed in as well. Clicked save and error went away.

Yes #25!!! That's it!!! So simple ...

3 month later. Same problem, slightly different cause. This time #9 helped me to spot it.
So inside theme_preprocess_page (template.php) I checked

  // replace XXINTEGER_HEREXX with the 2nd bytes value of your error notice
  $result = db_query('SELECT name, LENGTH( value ) , value
    FROM variable
    WHERE LENGTH( value ) = XXINTEGER_HEREXX');
  foreach ($result as $record) {
    dpm($record);
  }

The dpm() returned me name == webform_default_from_name I then tried to db_delete, what didn't work. So I went to check Webform module settings and simply filled in all 'from' fields again. Error gone.

Sadly, in our case, after moving a site to a new server (and going from standalone to multisite), and getting these errors:

Notice: unserialize(): Error at offset 1776 of 1808 bytes in EntityAPIController->load() (line 261 of /xxx/xxx/xxx/xxx/xxx/xxx/sites/all/modules/contrib/entity/includes/entity.controller.inc).
Notice: unserialize(): Error at offset 2073 of 2105 bytes in EntityAPIController->load() (line 261 of /xxx/xxx/xxx/xxx/xxx/xxx/sites/all/modules/contrib/entity/includes/entity.controller.inc).

the module "variablecheck" found "No invalid variables found"

Trying the direct query also returned no rows.

I also had an identical issue, and after finding out which variable was causing the error, in my case the string size was wrong, I updated the value and until now no more error. Most cases will have a value harder to fix.

kcfinder_upload_url | 36 | s:24:"example/uploads";
to:
kcfinder_upload_url | 36 | s:15:"example/uploads";

Delete the row from variable table.

variable_delete('update_notify_emails');
or
DELETE FROM variable WHERE name = 'update_notify_emails';

Still an issue today and #9 helped me solve the problem.

Hi,

Got a similar error:
Notice: unserialize(): Error at offset 219 of 663 bytes in C:\xampp\htdocs\drupal\core\lib\Drupal\Component\DependencyInjection\Container.php on line 164

Notice: unserialize(): Error at offset 97 of 877 bytes in C:\xampp\htdocs\drupal\core\lib\Drupal\Component\DependencyInjection\Container.php on line 164

When following the step by step guide at #9, sql replies that the table 'variable' doesn't exist...

Did that happen to anyone ?

Thanks in advance !

Hello, Drupal Experts-- HELP NEEDED!!!

Every time I run Cron, I'm getting "The website encountered an unexpected error. Please try again later."

Followed by this Very Similar notice in the error log:

Notice: unserialize(): Error at offset 57 of 101 bytes in SystemQueue->claimItem() (line 250 of /modules/system/system.queue.inc).

Here is the function in system.queue.inc:

  public function claimItem($lease_time = 30) {
    // Claim an item by updating its expire fields. If claim is not successful
    // another thread may have claimed the item in the meantime. Therefore loop
    // until an item is successfully claimed or we are reasonably sure there
    // are no unclaimed items left.
    while (TRUE) {
      $item = db_query_range('SELECT data, item_id FROM {queue} q WHERE expire = 0 AND name = :name ORDER BY created, item_id ASC', 0, 1, array(':name' => $this->name))->fetchObject();
      if ($item) {
        // Try to update the item. Only one thread can succeed in UPDATEing the
        // same row. We cannot rely on REQUEST_TIME because items might be
        // claimed by a single consumer which runs longer than 1 second. If we
        // continue to use REQUEST_TIME instead of the current time(), we steal
        // time from the lease, and will tend to reset items before the lease
        // should really expire.
        $update = db_update('queue')
          ->fields(array(
            'expire' => time() + $lease_time,
          ))
          ->condition('item_id', $item->item_id)
          ->condition('expire', 0);
        // If there are affected rows, this update succeeded.
        if ($update->execute()) {
          $item->data = unserialize($item->data);
          return $item;
        }
      }
      else {
        // No items currently available to claim.
        return FALSE;
      }
    }
  }

It is also accompanied with this error:

Recoverable fatal error: Argument 1 passed to feeds_source_import() must be of the type array, boolean given in feeds_source_import() (line 118 of /sites/all/modules/feeds/feeds.module).

Google is showing no results for my specific case. Nothing about "unserialize()" within the system.queue.inc file or the accompanied Feeds error. I'd be forever grateful if someone could possibly step forward and lend any advice to help me troubleshoot this stressful situation. I need to get this website up and running within the next couple weeks...

Great explanation by Steven Jones at #9.
#9 solved the issue, thanks a lot.