Message Persistence API for PHP SDK

Message Persistence gives you real-time access to the history of messages published to PubNub. Each message is timestamped to the nearest 10 nanoseconds and stored across multiple availability zones in several geographic locations. You can encrypt stored messages with AES-256 so they are not readable on PubNub’s network. For details, see Message Persistence.

You control how long messages are stored through your account’s retention policy. Options include: 1 day, 7 days, 30 days, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, or Unlimited.

You can retrieve the following:

Messages
Message reactions
Files (using the File Sharing API)

Fetch history

Requires Message Persistence

Enable Message Persistence for your key in the Admin Portal. See how to enable add-on features.

Fetch historical messages from one or more channels. Use includeMessageActions to include message actions.

You can control how messages are returned and in what order.

If you specify only the start parameter (without end), you receive messages older than the start timetoken.
If you specify only the end parameter (without start), you receive messages from that end timetoken and newer.
If you specify both start and end, you retrieve messages between those timetokens (inclusive of the end value).

You can receive up to 100 messages for a single channel. For multiple channels (up to 500), you can receive up to 25 messages per channel. If more messages match the time range, make iterative calls and adjust the start timetoken to page through the results.

Method(s)

Use the following method(s) in the PHP SDK:

$pubnub.fetchMessages()
    ->channels(string|Array<string>)
    ->maximumPerChannel(Int)
    ->start(string)
    ->end(string)
    ->includeMessageActions(Boolean)
    ->includeMeta(Boolean)
    ->includeMessageType(Boolean)
    ->includeCustomMessageType(Boolean)
    ->includeUuid(Boolean)

* required

Parameter	Description
`channels` * Type: string or `Array<string>` Default: n/a	Channels to fetch history messages from (up to 500).
`maximumPerChannel` Type: Int Default: `25` or `100`	Number of historical messages to return. Default and maximum are 100 (single), 25 (multi), and 25 with `includeMessageActions`.
`start` Type: string Default: n/a	Timetoken delimiting the start (exclusive) of the time slice.
`end` Type: string Default: n/a	Timetoken delimiting the end (inclusive) of the time slice.
`includeMessageActions` Type: Boolean Default: `False`	Whether to retrieve history messages with message actions. If `True`, limited to one channel and 25 messages.
`includeMeta` Type: Boolean Default: `False`	Whether to include the meta object (if provided at publish time) in the response.
`includeMessageType` Type: Boolean Default: n/a	Whether to include message type. See Retrieving Messages.
`includeCustomMessageType` Type: Boolean Default: n/a	Whether to include the custom message type. See Retrieving Messages.
`includeUuid` Type: Boolean Default: n/a	Whether to receive the publisher `uuid`.

Sample code

Retrieve the last message on a channel:

Reference code

This example is a self-contained code snippet ready to be run. It includes necessary imports and executes methods with console logging. Use it as a reference when working with other examples in this document.

Returns

The fetchMessages() operation returns an PNFetchMessagesResult which contains the following fields:

PNFetchMessagesResult

Method	Description
`channels` Type: Array	Array of `PNFetchMessageItem`
`startTimetoken` Type: Int	Start timetoken.
`endTimetoken` Type: Int	End timetoken.

PNFetchMessageItem

Method	Description
`message` Type: string	The message
`meta` Type: Any	Meta value
`messageType` Type: Any	Type of the message
`customMessageType` Type: Any	Custom type of the message
`uuid` Type: string	UUID of the sender
`timetoken` Type: Int	Timetoken of the message
`actions` Type: List	A 3-dimensional List of message actions, grouped by action type and value

History

Requires Message Persistence

Enable Message Persistence for your key in the Admin Portal. See how to enable add-on features.

This function fetches historical messages of a channel.

It is possible to control how messages are returned and in what order, for example you can:

Search for messages starting on the newest end of the timeline (default behavior - reverse = false)
Search for messages from the oldest end of the timeline by setting reverse to true.
Page through results by providing a start OR end timetoken.
Retrieve a slice of the time line by providing both a start AND end timetoken.
Limit the number of messages to a specific quantity using the count parameter.

Start & End parameter usage clarity

If only the start parameter is specified (without end), you will receive messages that are older than and up to that start timetoken value. If only the end parameter is specified (without start) you will receive messages that match that end timetoken value and newer. Specifying values for both start and end parameters will return messages between those timetoken values (inclusive on the end value). Keep in mind that you will still receive a maximum of 100 messages even if there are more messages that meet the timetoken values. Iterative calls to history adjusting the start timetoken is necessary to page through the full set of results if more than 100 messages meet the timetoken values.

Method(s)

To run History you can use the following method(s) in the PHP SDK:

$pubnub->history()
    ->channel(String)
    ->reverse(bool)
    ->includeTimetoken(bool)
    ->start(integer)
    ->end(integer)
    ->count(integer)
    ->sync();

* required

Parameter	Description
`channel` * Type: String Default: n/a	Channel to return history messages from.
`reverse` Type: Boolean Default: `false`	Traverse from oldest to newest when set to `true`.
`includeTimetoken` Type: Boolean Default: `false`	Whether to include message timetokens in the response.
`start` Type: Integer Default: n/a	Timetoken delimiting the start (exclusive) of the time slice.
`end` Type: Integer Default: n/a	Timetoken delimiting the end (inclusive) of the time slice.
`count` Type: Integer Default: n/a	Number of historical messages to return.

tip

Using the reverse parameter

Messages are always returned sorted in ascending time direction from history regardless of reverse. The reverse direction matters when you have more than 100 (or count, if it's set) messages in the time interval, in which case reverse determines the end of the time interval from which it should start retrieving the messages.

Sample code

Retrieve the last 5 messages on a channel:

Response

The history() operation returns a PNHistoryResult which contains the following operations:

Method	Description
`getMessages()` Type: Array	array of messages of type PNHistoryItemResult. See PNHistoryItemResult for more details.
`getStartTimetoken()` Type: Integer	Start timetoken.
`getEndTimetoken()` Type: Integer	End timetoken.

PNHistoryItemResult

Method	Description
`getTimetoken()` Type: Integer	`Timetoken` of the message.
`getEntry()` Type: Object	Message.

Other examples

Use history() to retrieve the three oldest messages by retrieving from the time line in reverse

$pubnub->history()
    ->channel("my_channel")
    ->count(3)
    ->reverse(true)
    ->sync();

Response

PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryResult Object(
    [messages:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryResult:private] => Array(
        [0] => PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult Object(
            [entry:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] => Array(
                [a] => 11
                [b] => 22
            )
            [crypto:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] =>
            [timetoken:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] => 1111
        )
        [1] => PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult Object(
            [entry:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] => Array(
                [a] => 33
                [b] => 44
            )
show all 31 lines

Use history() to retrieve messages newer than a given timetoken by paging from oldest message to newest message starting at a single point in time (exclusive)

$pubnub->history()
    ->channel("my_channel")
    ->start(13847168620721752)
    ->reverse(true)
    ->sync();

Response

PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryResult Object(
    [messages:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryResult:private] => Array(
        [0] => PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult Object(
            [entry:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] => Array
                (
                    [a] => 11
                    [b] => 22
                )

            [crypto:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] =>
            [timetoken:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] => 1111
        )
        [1] => PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult Object(
            [entry:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] => Array(
                [a] => 33
show all 36 lines

Use history() to retrieve messages until a given timetoken by paging from newest message to oldest message until a specific end point in time (inclusive)

$pubnub->history()
    ->channel("my_channel")
    ->count(100)
    ->start(-1)
    ->end(13847168819178600)
    ->reverse(true)
    ->sync();

Response

PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryResult Object(
    [messages:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryResult:private] => Array(
        [0] => PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult Object(
            [entry:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] => Array(
                [a] => 11
                [b] => 22
            )

            [crypto:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] =>
            [timetoken:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] => 1111
        )
        [1] => PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult Object(
            [entry:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] => Array(
                [a] => 33
                [b] => 44
show all 35 lines

Include timetoken in history response

$pubnub->history()
    ->channel("my_channel")
    ->count(100)
    ->includeTimetoken(true)
    ->sync();

Delete messages from history

Requires Message Persistence

Enable Message Persistence for your key in the Admin Portal. See how to enable add-on features.

Remove messages from the history of a specific channel.

Required setting

Enable Delete-From-History for your key in the Admin Portal and initialize the SDK with a secret key.

Method(s)

To Delete Messages from History you can use the following method(s) in the PHP SDK.

$pubnub->deleteMessages()
    ->channel(String)
    ->start(integer)
    ->end(integer)
    ->sync()

* required

Parameter	Description
`channel` * Type: String Default: n/a	Channel to delete messages from.
`start` Type: Integer Default: n/a	Timetoken delimiting the start (inclusive) of the time slice.
`end` Type: Integer Default: n/a	Timetoken delimiting the end (exclusive) of the time slice.

Sample code

Other examples

Delete specific message from history

To delete a specific message, pass the publish timetoken (received from a successful publish) in the End parameter and timetoken +/- 1 in the Start parameter. For example, if 15526611838554310 is the publish timetoken, pass 15526611838554309 in Start and 15526611838554310 in End parameters respectively as shown in the following code snippet.

$pubnub->deleteMessages()
    ->channel("ch")
    ->start(15526611838554309)
    ->end(15526611838554310)
    ->sync();

Message counts

Requires Message Persistence

Enable Message Persistence for your key in the Admin Portal. See how to enable add-on features.

Return the number of messages published since the given time. The count is the number of messages with a timetoken greater than or equal to the value in channelsTimetoken.

Unlimited message retention

Only messages from the last 30 days are counted.

Method(s)

You can use the following method(s) in the PHP SDK:

$pubnub->messageCounts()
    ->channels(array)
    ->channelsTimetoken(array)

* required

Parameter	Description
`channels` * Type: Array Default: n/a	Channels to fetch the message count.
`channelsTimetoken` * Type: Array Default: n/a	Array in the same order as channels; a single timetoken applies to all channels; otherwise, lengths must match or the function returns a `PNStatus` error.

Sample code

Returns

The operation returns a PNMessageCountsResult which contains the following operations

Method	Description
`getChannels()` Type: Array	An associative array with channel name as key and messages count as value. `Channels` without messages have a count of 0. `Channels` with 10,000 messages or more have a count of 10000.

Other examples

Retrieve count of messages using different timetokens for each channel

$response = $pubnub->messageCounts()
    ->channels(["mychannel", "another_channel"])
    ->channelsTimetoken(["15513576173381797","15513574291261651"])
    ->sync();

print_r($response->getChannels());

Fetch history​

Requires Message Persistence

Method(s)​

Sample code​

Reference code

Returns​

PNFetchMessagesResult​

PNFetchMessageItem​

History​

Requires Message Persistence

Start & End parameter usage clarity

Method(s)​

tip

Sample code​

Response​

PNHistoryItemResult​

Other examples​

Use history() to retrieve the three oldest messages by retrieving from the time line in reverse​

Response​

Use history() to retrieve messages newer than a given timetoken by paging from oldest message to newest message starting at a single point in time (exclusive)​

Response​

Use history() to retrieve messages until a given timetoken by paging from newest message to oldest message until a specific end point in time (inclusive)​

Response​

Include timetoken in history response​

Delete messages from history​

Requires Message Persistence

Required setting

Method(s)​

Sample code​

Other examples​

Delete specific message from history​

Message counts​

Requires Message Persistence

Unlimited message retention

Method(s)​

Sample code​

Returns​

Other examples​

Retrieve count of messages using different timetokens for each channel​

Fetch history

Method(s)

Sample code

Returns

PNFetchMessagesResult

PNFetchMessageItem

History

Method(s)

Sample code

Response

PNHistoryItemResult

Other examples

Use history() to retrieve the three oldest messages by retrieving from the time line in reverse

Response

Use history() to retrieve messages newer than a given timetoken by paging from oldest message to newest message starting at a single point in time (exclusive)

Response

Use history() to retrieve messages until a given timetoken by paging from newest message to oldest message until a specific end point in time (inclusive)

Response

Include timetoken in history response

Delete messages from history

Method(s)

Sample code

Other examples

Delete specific message from history

Message counts

Method(s)

Sample code

Returns

Other examples

Retrieve count of messages using different timetokens for each channel