Encoding PHP array fetched from MySQL into JSON unicode escaped using PHP 5.2.17

Question

I am using a PHP 5.2.17 server + MySQL 5.1.65.

I have a table containing a field that is VARCHAR utf8_general_ci and I fetch a record from this table.

This is how I open the connection, nothing special:

$link = mysql_connect('localhost', 'user', 'pass');

I need to respond with a JSON object that contain special characters Unicode escaped, I mean the \u00e1 notation.

 $result = mysql_query(sprintf("select * from data t where t.domain='%s'", escape($domain));


  while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
    $r[] = array(
      "tagid" => $row['DATAID'],
      "name" => $row['NAME']
    );
   )

$encoded = json_encode($r);
header('Content-type: application/json');
exit($encoded);

My problem is fields containing special characters (áé..) are returned as null in the JSON response.

After having Googled for a while I see that PHP 5.2 lack the json_encode parameters, so I need to unicode-escape name fields manually. But how could I do this?

any reason you can't upgrade your PHP 5.2? Seeing as it was declared end-of-life nearly two years ago already? — SDC
– SDC, Commented Oct 23, 2012 at 13:22

CAMason · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-23 13:13:47Z

3

json_encode() should be able to handle UTF-8 data perfectly well - JSON is UTF-8 only, so it would be strange for PHP to not have this particular function as UTF-8 aware.

$array = array('key' => 'せ');

var_dump(json_encode($array)); // string(16) "{"key":"\u305b"}"

Your column collation might be VARCHAR utf8_general_ci but that does not mean the characters are encoded as UTF-8. Your table should be created with:

CREATE TABLE ... CHARACTER SET utf8

And you should probably execute this as your first query:

SET NAMES utf8

answered Oct 23, 2012 at 13:13

CAMason

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1 Comment

jabal Over a year ago

Thanks, all I was missing is the SET NAMES utf8 as a first query.

Marcin Orlowski · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-23 12:58:52Z

1

You can implement json_encode yourself, which should not be problematic, or check others' code, like this one (with optional tweaks when you find that necessary).

answered Oct 23, 2012 at 12:58

Marcin Orlowski

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Comments

Evert · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-23 13:13:57Z

1

There's actually no need to do this escaping. What's much more likely, is that your input data is not actually valid UTF-8.

Changing the collation of a table may not fix this. Are you absolutely certain it's valid?

Also: stop using mysql_ functions and use PDO or mysqli. The mysql_ functions have been deprecated a long, long time ago.

answered Oct 23, 2012 at 13:13

Evert

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Steve Lockwood · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-22 19:36:23Z

0

You might also find that base64_encode(ing) the data will make json_encode more reliable. In your example: "tag

"tagid" => base64_encode($row['DATAID'])
...

Then you json_encode the whole thing. Of course you have to base64_decode at the other end.

answered Dec 22, 2014 at 19:36

Steve Lockwood

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tony gil · Accepted Answer · 2020-01-19 23:27:12Z

If you (like me) are stuck with a pre 5.4 PHP environment, this works for latin accented multirow returns fetched using either mysql or mysqli (string originally MySQL utf8):

$encoded = jsonEncode($r);
exit($encoded);
function jsonEncode($outputArray) {
    $outputMe = "[";
    $k = 0;
    foreach ($outputArray as $key => $valueArray) {
        if ($k) { 
            $outputMe.=","; 
        }
        $outputMe.="{";
        $l=0;
        foreach ($valueArray as $position => $value) {
            if ($l) { 
                $outputMe.=","; 
            }
            $outputMe .= '"'.$position.'":"'.$value.'"';
            $l++;
        }
        $outputMe .= "}";
        $k++;
    }
    $outputMe .= "]";
    return $outputMe;
}

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