PHP json_decode() Function

Store JSON data in a PHP variable, and then decode it into a PHP object:

<?php
$jsonobj = '{"Peter":35,"Ben":37,"Joe":43}';

var_dump(json_decode($jsonobj));
?>

Definition and Usage

The json_decode() function is used to decode or convert a JSON object to a PHP object.

json_decode(string, assoc, depth, options)

Parameter	Description
string	Required. Specifies the value to be decoded
assoc	Optional. Specifies a Boolean value. When set to true, the returned object will be converted into an associative array. When set to false, it returns an object. False is default
depth	Optional. Specifies the recursion depth. Default recursion depth is 512
options	Optional. Specifies a bitmask (JSON_BIGINT_AS_STRING, JSON_INVALID_UTF8_IGNORE, JSON_INVALID_UTF8_SUBSTITUTE, JSON_OBJECT_AS_ARRAY, JSON_THROW_ON_ERROR)

Return Value:	Returns the value encoded in JSON in appropriate PHP type. If the JSON object cannot be decoded it returns NULL
PHP Version:	5.2+
PHP Changelog:	PHP 7.3: Added JSON_THROWN_ON_ERROR option PHP 7.2: Added JSON_INVALID_UTF8_IGNORE, and JSON_INVALID_UTF8_SUBSTITUTE options PHP 5.4: Added JSON_BIGINT_AS_STRING, and JSON_OBJECT_AS_ARRAY options PHP 5.4: Added options parameter PHP 5.3: Added depth parameter

Store JSON data in a PHP variable, and then decode it into a PHP associative array:

<?php
$jsonobj = '{"Peter":35,"Ben":37,"Joe":43}';

var_dump(json_decode($jsonobj, true));
?>

How to access the values from the PHP object:

<?php
$jsonobj = '{"Peter":35,"Ben":37,"Joe":43}';

$obj = json_decode($jsonobj);

echo $obj->Peter;
echo $obj->Ben;
echo $obj->Joe;
?>

How to access the values from the PHP associative array:

<?php
$jsonobj = '{"Peter":35,"Ben":37,"Joe":43}';

$arr = json_decode($jsonobj, true);

echo $arr["Peter"];
echo $arr["Ben"];
echo $arr["Joe"];
?>