How to convert this array into JSON in PHP

Question

I read many many many posts on this subject and I tried many solutions and I can't convert this multi-array into a JSON string. This is what I see when I print_r($result):

Array ( [profiles] => 
       Array ( [0] => 
              Array ( [ID] => 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001 
                      [UserName] => Administrator GU 
                      [Age] => 37 
                      [CityStateCode] => Montréal 
                      [OnlineSince] => En ligne depuis 6 heures 39 minutes 
                      [IsPaying] => true 
                      [LabelOnlineStatus] => En ligne 
                    ) 
               [1] => 
              Array ( [ID] => ab3dd04e-5621-11e3-b448-103f0c805f5a 
                      [UserName] => Guillaume Le Genie 
                      [Age] => 68 
                      [CityStateCode] => Montréal 
                      [OnlineSince] => En ligne depuis 1 jour 9 heures 
                      [IsPaying] => true 
                      [LabelOnlineStatus] => Hors-Ligne 
                    ) 
               [2] => 
              Array ( [ID] => 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000050 
                      [UserName] => Baby-dragoon 
                      [Age] => 25 
                      [CityStateCode] => Québec 
                      [OnlineSince] => En ligne depuis 5 jours 6 heures 
                      [IsPaying] => true 
                      [LabelOnlineStatus] => Hors-Ligne 
                    ) 
            )      
      )

I try this (with and without true parameter):

$result = json_encode($result, true);
$error = json_last_error_msg();
echo "[ERROR : $error]-----[$result]-----";

And I receive:

[ERROR : Malformed UTF-8 characters, possibly incorrectly encoded]-----[]-----

When I try this:

$result = json_encode(htmlspecialchars(utf8_encode($result)));

I receive:

Warning: utf8_encode() expects parameter 1 to be string, array given in /Applications/XAMPP/xamppfiles/htdocs/cdn/php/functionsv1.php on line 2839
[ERROR : No error]-----[""]-----

When I try this:

$result = json_encode(htmlspecialchars($result));

I receive:

Warning: htmlspecialchars() expects parameter 1 to be string, array given in /Applications/XAMPP/xamppfiles/htdocs/cdn/php/functionsv1.php on line 2839
[ERROR : No error]-----[null]-----

I'm really lost!

N.B. You see the language is French so we have a char with accent like éèàô etc...

The data provide from MySQL Database and database is set to:

mysql_query("SET NAMES 'utf8'");
mysql_query('SET CHARACTER SET utf8');

You said it was $result2, but you are trying to use $result

Theraot
– Theraot

2013-11-28 01:14:34 +00:00
Commented Nov 28, 2013 at 1:14 — Theraot
– Theraot, Commented Nov 28, 2013 at 1:14
sorry for the 2 it's a typing error ! i edit my post!

LiTHiUM2525
– LiTHiUM2525

2013-11-28 01:35:39 +00:00
Commented Nov 28, 2013 at 1:35 — LiTHiUM2525
– LiTHiUM2525, Commented Nov 28, 2013 at 1:35

Community · Accepted Answer · 2023-11-17 20:42:18Z

I am running PHP 5.4.7, for me the following code works flawlessly:

$result = json_encode($result, true);

I know you have already tried that. Leonardo's suggestion also works for me:

$result = json_encode($result, JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE);

The issue is that in PHP 5.5.0 json_encode requires the strings to be UTF-8.

So.. you will have to pass a valid utf8 string, how to do it depend on what encoding you have your strings in. You are right in thinking you need utf8_encode or similar function. You may also want to give a look to iconv.

Now the issue with utf8_encode is that this function will not work with arrays, for that you need a helper function, such as:

function utf8_encode_recursive ($array)
{
    $result = array();
    foreach ($array as $key => $value)
    {
        if (is_array($value))
        {
            $result[$key] = utf8_encode_recursive($value);
        }
        else if (is_string($value))
        {
            $result[$key] = utf8_encode($value);
        }
        else
        {
            $result[$key] = $value;
        }
    }
    return $result;
}

Note 1: utf8_encode only accepts strings in ISO-8859-1. Verify what encoding you are using.

Note 2: htmlspecialchars and htmlentities will not convert all the characters of your encoding, only those "dangerous" (htmlspecialchars) or that have html equivalent named entities (htmlentities). For this use case use mb_encode_numericentity instead.

Note 3: Both iconv and mb_encode_numericentity will allow you to specify the encoding of your string. Also they don't work with arrays either, so you will need to write recursive helper functions for them too.

Community · Accepted Answer · 2023-11-20 22:45:59Z

1

If you are using php version > 5.4.0 you can use:

$result = json_encode($result, JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE);

See the docs

edited Nov 20, 2023 at 22:45

CommunityBot

11 silver badge

answered Nov 28, 2013 at 1:11

Leonardo

7364 silver badges11 bronze badges

1 Comment

LiTHiUM2525 Over a year ago

i use PHP 5.5 and when i try this : $result = json_encode($result, JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE); $error = json_last_error_msg(); echo "[ERROR : $error]-----[$result]-----"; I obtain a same error : [ERROR : Malformed UTF-8 characters, possibly incorrectly encoded]-----[]-----

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