how to decode this JSON string?

Question

this is what i get as a string from a feed finder url (JSON Encoded):

{
 "updated": 1265787927,
 "id": "http://www.google.com/reader/api/0/feed-finder?q\u003dhttp://itcapsule.blogspot.com/\u0026output\u003djson",
 "title": "Feed results for \"http://itcapsule.blogspot.com/\"",
 "self": [{
 "href": "http://www.google.com/reader/api/0/feed-finder?q\u003dhttp://itcapsule.blogspot.com/\u0026output\u003djson"
 }],
 "feed": [{
 "href": "http://itcapsule.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default"
 }]
}

How can i decode it using json_decode() function in php and get the last array element ("feed") ? i tried it with the following code but no luck

 $json = file_get_contents("http://www.google.com/reader/api/0/feed-finder?q=http://itcapsule.blogspot.com/&output=json");
 $ar = (array)(json_decode($json,true));
 print_r $ar;

Please help ..

• jasonbar: Apologies if I am misunderstanding but don't you just want $ar['feed'] ?
• Vladislav Rastrusny: There is no need in type casting in PHP.
• Orion: @Jasonbar, Yes u are correct. I need only the "feed" value.
• axiac: (array) in front of json_decode() is not needed. And it does not have any effect.

Answer 1

$array = json_decode($json, true);
$feed = $array['feed'];

Note that json_decode() already returns an array when you call it with true as second parameter.

Update:

As the value of feed in JSON

"feed":[{"href":"http://itcapsule.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default"}]

is an array of objects, the content of $array['feed'] is:

Array
(
 [0] => Array
 (
 [href] => http://itcapsule.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default
 ) 
)

To get the URL you have to access the array with $array['feed'][0]['href'] or $feed[0]['href'].

But this is basic handling of arrays. Maybe the Arrays documentation helps you.

• Orion: @Felix, Now I am getting the result as "Array" :(