How to converting JSON text to PHP associative array

Question

I have the following JSON Object stored in a text file(data.txt):

{"player":"black","time":"0","from":"2c","to":"3d"}

Which i read using php:

<?php
 $data = file_get_contents('data.txt');
?>

Question: Is there an easy way to convert $data to a PHP associative array. I have tried using json_decode($data); but that did not work, any suggestions?

• Pekka: Why did json_decode($data) not work?
• Q_Mlilo: Because the JSON is coming from a text file and PHP reads it as a string.
• benhowdle89: You may have to encode the string into json. Then put it into an array..
• deceze: JSON === string. If your text file contains the string you have posted above, it should be json_decodable just fine.

Answer 1

$assocArray = json_decode($data, true);

The second parameter set the result as an object(false, default) or an associative array(true).

• user1491819: Make sure you don't get your single and double quotes mixed up: //valid JSON: $string = '{"foo": "bar", "cool": "attr"}'; //Invalid JSON: $string = "{'foo': 'bar', 'cool': 'attr'}"; See: json.org

Answer 2

Try: json_decode($data, true)

http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.json-decode.php

It worked for me. Also, make sure your PHP version has json_encode / json_decode

Answer 3

You can use this function to convert array from json in php, this can validate if the provided string is valid json or not:

function convert_to_json($file, $in_array = True) {
 if(file_exists($file)) {
 $string = file_get_contents($file);
 }else {
 $string = $file;
 }
 $return_array = json_decode($string, $in_array);
 if (json_last_error() == JSON_ERROR_NONE) {
 return $return_array;
 }
 return False;
}