In this tutorial, you shall learn how to parse a JSON string in PHP using json_decode() function, with syntax and example programs.
PHP – Parse JSON String
To parse a JSON String in PHP, call json_decode() function and pass the JSON string. This function can take other optional parameters also that effect the return value or parsing.
Syntax
The syntax of json_decode() function is
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json_decode(string, associative, depth, flags)where
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| string | [Required] JSON string to be parsed or decoded. |
| associative | [Optional] Boolean Value. If true, the returned object will be converted into an associate array. If false (default value), an object is returned. |
| depth | [Optional] Integer. Specifies the depth of recursion. Default value = 512. |
| flags | [Optional] Bitmask: JSON_BIGINT_AS_STRING, JSON_INVALID_UTF8_IGNORE, JSON_INVALID_UTF8_SUBSTITUTE, JSON_OBJECT_AS_ARRAY, JSON_THROW_ON_ERROR |
Generally, the first two parameters are sufficient in most use cases while parsing a JSON string. The other two parameters are used only in some special scenarios.
Examples
1. Parse JSON array string into a PHP array
In this example, we will take a JSON string and parse it using json_decode() function with the default optional parameters. We shall display the object returned by json_decode() in the output.
PHP Program
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<?php
$jsonStr = '{"apple": 25, "banana": 41, "cherry": 36}';
$output = array(json_decode($jsonStr));
var_dump($output);
?>Output