PHP JSON-String doesn't work correct

Question

I have a JSON-String like

{"aaa":"foo", "bbb":"bar", "ccc":"hello", "ddd":"world"}

Actually I recive this string via $_GET. It is base64 encoded and if I decode it I have this string.

So further is want to use this in PHP as an object. For this is do

$data = json_decode( base64_decode( $_GET['data'] ) );

but $data is NULL all the time. If I do

echo base64_decode( $_GET['data'] );

Then the valid JSON-String is printed as expacted.

What am I doing wrong ?

I have tried to call the base64_encode before but same result...

• Antony D'Andrea: Can you confirm when your print $_GET['data'] tht it is encoded.
• HamZa: Take a look at the source code of var_dump(base64_decode($_GET['data']));, maybe it's html encoded...
• EJTH: Might be a good idea to include the actual base64 string that you are trying to decode. Or at least the actual JSON data. have you tried to echo json_last_error(); to see what error the json parser encounters?
• EJTH: But did you try to do what i actually said in my comments? Also, don't answer by edits, thats just silly!
• EJTH: If json_last_error returns 5 then it is very likely that the JSON you have is in fact not valid, as it contains malformed UTF-8 sequences. I really can't help you without seeing the data you are handling.

Answer 1

Check json_last_error() and see what error the JSON parser encountered. If you encounter 5 then it is very likely that your JSON data contains unencoded UTF-8 sequences. You should always use a JSON-encoding library for handling data export to json.

See http://php.net/manual/en/function.json-last-error.php for a list of what errors you can handle with json_last_error (There is a INT to definition name table in the user comments)

0 = JSON_ERROR_NONE
1 = JSON_ERROR_DEPTH
2 = JSON_ERROR_STATE_MISMATCH
3 = JSON_ERROR_CTRL_CHAR
4 = JSON_ERROR_SYNTAX
5 = JSON_ERROR_UTF8