PHP json encode and decode

Question

I'm new to json. I have existing json data in a file. here it looks like:

{
 "qwqw":{
 "id":3,
 "item1":{
 "id":15,
 "price":31.85
 },
 "item2":{
 "id":17,
 "price":26
 },
 "item3":{
 "id":16,
 "price":57.85
 }
 }
}

I can get this value using json_decode. I will add another entry using this code.

$data = json_decode( file_get_contents('test.ini'), true );
$data[] = array(
 'id'=>4,
 'item1'=>array(
 'id'=>15,
 'price'=>11
 ), 
 'item2'=>array(
 'id'=>17,
 'price'=>12
 ),
 'item3'=>array(
 'id'=>16,
 'price'=>13.50
 )
 );
file_put_contents('test.ini', json_encode($data) );

This works properply. When I decoded it again. this how it looks.

 {
 "qwqw":{
 "id":3,
 "item1":{
 "id":15,
 "price":31.85
 },
 "item2":{
 "id":17,
 "price":26
 },
 "item3":{
 "id":16,
 "price":57.85
 }
 },
 "0":{
 "id":3,
 "item1":{
 "id":15,
 "price":11
 },
 "item2":{
 "id":17,
 "price":12
 },
 "item3":{
 "id":16,
 "price":13.5
 }
 }
 }

My problem is, can I change the value "0" ? to a string.

anyone who can help ?

• yent: Just use $data["the_string_you_want"] = array(...)

Answer 1

0 is a string here, you can tell because it has quotes around it.

But if you want a different string, don't use:

$data[] = array(
 /* ... */
)

but:

$data['myKey'] = array(
 /* ... */
)

Answer 2

Use

$data["the_string_key"] = array(
 //...
);

Answer 3

yes you can

$data['string'] = array(
 'id'=>4,
 'item1'=>array(
 'id'=>15,
 'price'=>11
 ), 
 'item2'=>array(
 'id'=>17,
 'price'=>12
 ),
 'item3'=>array(
 'id'=>16,
 'price'=>13.50
 )
 );