6.12 PHP JSON

PHP - json_encode()

The json_encode() function is used to encode a value to JSON format.

Example 1: PHP - json_encode() part 1

This example shows how to encode an associative array into a JSON object:

<?php
$age =  array("Peter"=>35,  "Ben"=>37,  "Joe"=>43);

echo  json_encode($age);
?>

Example 2: PHP and JSON - json_encode() part 2

This example shows how to encode an indexed array into a JSON array:

<?php
$cars =  array("Volvo",  "BMW",  "Toyota");

echo  json_encode($cars);
?>

PHP - json_decode()

The json_decode() function is used to decode a JSON object into a PHP object or an associative array.

Example 3: PHP and JSON - json_decode() part 1

This example decodes JSON data into a PHP object:

<?php
$jsonobj =  '{"Peter":35,"Ben":37,"Joe":43}';

var_dump(json_decode($jsonobj));
?>

The json_decode() function returns an object by default. The json_decode() function has a second parameter, and when set to true, JSON objects are decoded into associative arrays.

Example 4: PHP and JSON - json_decode() part 2

This example decodes JSON data into a PHP associative array:

<?php
$jsonobj =  '{"Peter":35,"Ben":37,"Joe":43}';

var_dump(json_decode($jsonobj, true));
?>

PHP - Accessing the Decoded Values

Here are two examples of how to access the decoded values from an object and from an associative array:

Example 5: PHP and JSON - Accessing the Decoded Values part 1

This example shows how to access the values from a PHP object:

<?php
$jsonobj =  '{"Peter":35,"Ben":37,"Joe":43}';

$obj = json_decode($jsonobj);

echo  $obj->Peter;
echo  $obj->Ben;
echo  $obj->Joe;
?>

Example 6: PHP and JSON - Accessing the Decoded Values part 2

This example shows how to access the values from a PHP associative array:

<?php
$jsonobj =  '{"Peter":35,"Ben":37,"Joe":43}';

$arr = json_decode($jsonobj, true);

echo  $arr["Peter"];
echo  $arr["Ben"];
echo  $arr["Joe"];
?>

PHP - Looping Through the Values

You can also loop through the values with a foreach() loop:

Example 7: PHP and JSON - Looping Through the Values part 1

This example shows how to loop through the values of a PHP object:

<?php
$jsonobj =  '{"Peter":35,"Ben":37,"Joe":43}';

$obj = json_decode($jsonobj);

foreach($obj  as  $key => $value) {
   echo  $key .  " => "  . $value .  "<br>";
}
?>

Example 8: PHP and JSON - Looping Through the Values part 2

This example shows how to loop through the values of a PHP associative array:

<?php
$jsonobj =  '{"Peter":35,"Ben":37,"Joe":43}';

$arr = json_decode($jsonobj, true);

foreach($arr  as  $key => $value) {
   echo  $key .  " => "  . $value .  "<br>";
}
?>