json_encode must cast object as array

Question

Currently I need to build an API to output as json format, and what I currently do (as example) is the following:

$array=array();
$array['firstname']="John";
$array['lastname']="Doe";
$array['cities']=array();
$array['cities']['name']=array("London","Brighton");
$array['cities']['population']=array("12000000","500000");
echo json_encode($array);

The output is:

{"firstname":"John","lastname":"Doe","cities":{"name":["London","Brighton"],"population":["12000000","500000"]}}

However I was told that this is incorrect, and the output needs to be

{"firstname":"John","lastname":"Doe","cities":[{"name":["London","Brighton"],"population":["12000000","500000"]}]}

(note the square brackets in the output). The reason was claimed that cities itself needs to be specified as an array since $array['cities'] is an array.

My questions are:

1) Is it custom to add square brackets in these cases to indicate it is an array?

2) How can I change my php code in order to have these square-brackets in the output?

help appreciated

Thanks Patrick

Are you sure that's what the output needs to be? I'd expect London and Brighton (and their respective populations) to be in separate objects in the cities array. — Jonnix
– Jonnix, Commented Sep 16, 2016 at 8:41
Hi, I was surprised too, but was asked if I could change it to the 'correct' format, by having it in square-brackets. My understanding is that key-value arrays are always objects in javascript, but since cities[] itself is an array, it needs to be casted as such. — Patrick
– Patrick, Commented Sep 16, 2016 at 8:46

Thao Ngo · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-16 08:54:45Z

1

It's here

$array=array();
$array['firstname']="John";
$array['lastname']="Doe";
$array['cities']=array();
$array['cities'][]=array(
                        'name'=>array("London","Brighton"),
                        'population'=>array("12000000","500000")
                   );
echo json_encode($array);

answered Sep 16, 2016 at 8:54

Thao Ngo

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