Parsing "Nested" Array in PHP

Question

I'm getting JSON data back like this:

{
"destination_addresses": [
 "67-89 Pacific St, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA"
],
"origin_addresses": [
 "566 Vermont St, Brooklyn, NY 11207, USA"
],
"rows": [
 {
 "elements": [
 {
 "distance": {
 "text": "6.5 mi",
 "value": 10423
 },
 "duration": {
 "text": "35 mins",
 "value": 2076
 },
 "status": "OK"
 }
 ]
 }
],
"status": "OK"

}

I need to get the distance value and duration value as variables.

So, I know I need to decode this JSON:

$distance_data = json_decode($output);

And I've tried a ton of variations like:

$duration_value = $distance_data['rows']['elements']['duration']['value']);

But I know this isn't right. Can someone point me in the right direction?

• Tuan Duong: The "rows" and "elements" are defined as array in json, so you have to access via array index: $distance_data = json_decode($output, true); $distance_data['rows'][0]['elements'][0]['duration']['value']. Note: if you don't pass true as 2nd paramater to json_decode, the result will be stdObject instead of array.

Answer 1

You're getting a mixture of objects and arrays. Here's a full run through of your example.

// Your JSON response.
$json = '{
"destination_addresses": [
 "67-89 Pacific St, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA"
],
"origin_addresses": [
 "566 Vermont St, Brooklyn, NY 11207, USA"
],
"rows": [
 {
 "elements": [
 {
 "distance": {
 "text": "6.5 mi",
 "value": 10423
 },
 "duration": {
 "text": "35 mins",
 "value": 2076
 },
 "status": "OK"
 }
 ]
 }
],
"status": "OK"
}';
// Get JSON Object
$obj = json_decode($json);
// Let's see what's in the object.
print_r($obj);
/*
stdClass Object
(
 [destination_addresses] => Array
 (
 [0] => 67-89 Pacific St, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA
 )
 [origin_addresses] => Array
 (
 [0] => 566 Vermont St, Brooklyn, NY 11207, USA
 )
 [rows] => Array
 (
 [0] => stdClass Object
 (
 [elements] => Array
 (
 [0] => stdClass Object
 (
 [distance] => stdClass Object
 (
 [text] => 6.5 mi
 [value] => 10423
 )
 [duration] => stdClass Object
 (
 [text] => 35 mins
 [value] => 2076
 )
 [status] => OK
 )
 )
 )
 )
 [status] => OK
)
*/
// Let's pull the value we want using the information above.
// Notice we start with an object, then rows is an array of objects, as is elements.
echo $obj -> rows[0] -> elements[0] -> duration -> value;

• jonmrich: Thanks! Excellent explanation that'll help me next time.