How to convert json to array in php (three methods)

When developing web applications or applications with front-end and back-end separation, it is often necessary to convert JSON data into arrays for processing. As a language that supports processing JSON data, PHP provides multiple methods to achieve this requirement. The following will introduce three commonly used methods and their usage scenarios.

Using json_decode

json_decode is one of PHP’s built-in functions that can be used to convert JSON format data into an array in PHP. Using json_decode is very simple, just pass in the JSON string that needs to be parsed.

$jsonStr = '{"name": "Tom", "age": 20, "gender": "male"}';
$array = json_decode($jsonStr, true);

The second parameter of json_decode specifies the type of return value. Setting it to true here means returning an array type. If the second parameter is not passed in, a stdClass object type is returned. If the JSON is not well-formed, NULL will be returned.

This method is suitable for situations where the JSON data format is simple and the level is not deep. However, if the JSON data is complex and the level is deep, multiple foreach loops need to be nested to process the array, which affects the readability of the code. sex and efficiency.

Using PHP extension functions

PHP also provides an extension function json_decode_array, which has the same function as json_decode and is used to convert JSON format data into a PHP array. But unlike json_decode, json_decode_array does not need to pass in the second parameter to specify the return value type, but directly returns the array type.

$jsonStr = '{"name": "Tom", "age": 20, "gender": "male"}';
$array = json_decode_array($jsonStr);

Compared with json_decode, json_decode_array has higher performance because it is written in C and can be processed faster than PHP code. Therefore, when you need to process JSON format data efficiently, using json_decode_array is a wise choice.

However, it should be noted that json_decode_array is an extension function of PHP, not a built-in function. You need to install the corresponding extension library to use it. Under Windows systems, you can uncomment extension=php_json.dll in php.ini to enable the extension library. Under Linux systems, you can use the pecl command to install it.

Using the Composer package

In addition to PHP's own functions and extensions, we can also use third-party components to implement the function of converting JSON into an array. The method introduced in this article is to use Composer to install a third-party JSON processing library called JsonMachine.

// 安装 JsonMachine 库
composer require salsify/json-machine

$jsonStr = '{"name": "Tom", "age": 20, "gender": "male"}';

// 将 JSON 转化为数组
$array = json_machine($jsonStr);

The json_machine function provided by JsonMachine can receive a variety of different parameter forms, including JSON strings, PHP original arrays, stdClass objects, etc., and its return results are all PHP array types.

JsonMachine also supports returning JSON data in the form of iterators to reduce memory usage and improve code performance.

Summary

Whether you use the PHP built-in function json_decode or the extension function json_decode_array, or use the third-party library JsonMachine, you can meet the needs of converting JSON into a PHP array, and the usage method is relatively simple. . We can choose different methods according to our own needs to achieve the best code efficiency and readability.

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