What are the encoding and decoding function for JSON in PHP, please explain with proper examples?

Question

{"general":{
 "round-corner":"0",
 "border-stroke":"2",
 "background-color":"#ffffff"
 }
}

I have this json string, I know that php variable names doesn't support dashes. So what to do in this case ?

Answer 1

Encoding JSON in PHP (json_encode)

PHP json_encode() function is used for encoding JSON in PHP. This function returns the JSON representation of a value on success or FALSE on failure.

Syntax

string json_encode ( $value [, $options = 0 ] )

Parameters

value
− The value being encoded. This function only works with UTF-8 encoded data.

options
− This optional value is a bitmask consisting of JSON_HEX_QUOT, JSON_HEX_TAG, JSON_HEX_AMP, JSON_HEX_APOS, JSON_NUMERIC_CHECK, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT, JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES, JSON_FORCE_OBJECT.

Example

<?php
   $arr = array('a' => 1, 'b' => 2, 'c' => 3, 'd' => 4, 'e' => 5);
   echo json_encode($arr);
?>

Output

{"a":1,"b":2,"c":3,"d":4,"e":5}

Decoding JSON in PHP (json_decode)

PHP json_decode() function is used for decoding JSON in PHP. This function returns the value decoded from json to appropriate PHP type.

Syntax

mixed json_decode ($json [,$assoc = false [, $depth = 512 [, $options = 0 ]]])

Paramaters

json_string
− It is an encoded string which must be UTF-8 encoded data.

assoc
− It is a boolean type parameter, when set to TRUE, returned objects will be converted into associative arrays.

depth
− It is an integer type parameter which specifies recursion depth

options
− It is an integer type bitmask of JSON decode, JSON_BIGINT_AS_STRING is supported.

Example

<?php
   $json = '{"a":1,"b":2,"c":3,"d":4,"e":5}';

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

Output

object(stdClass)#1 (5) {
   ["a"] => int(1)
   ["b"] => int(2)
   ["c"] => int(3)
   ["d"] => int(4)
   ["e"] => int(5)
}
array(5) {
   ["a"] => int(1)
   ["b"] => int(2)
   ["c"] => int(3)
   ["d"] => int(4)
   ["e"] => int(5)
}