Unable to get json in correct format with file_get_contents()

Question

I parse a parameter to a php file and try to get json with file_get_contents(). This is my Code:

< ?php
    $url = $_GET['url'];
    $url = urldecode($url);
    $json = file_get_contents($url, true);
    echo($json);
? >

This is the called URL: http://vimeo.com/api/v2/channel/photographyschool/videos.json

This is a part of my result:

[{"id":40573637,"title":"All For Nothing - \"Dead To Me\" & \"Twisted Tongues\""}]

And so on... So everything is escaped. There are even \n in the result.

Since I neet to work afterwards with the json (in js), I need a non escaped version!

Interesting thing is, that my code works for example with this json: http://xkcd.com/847/info.0.json

What is my problem?

Everything isn't escaped, quotes internal to quoted strings here are correctly escaped. — Michael Berkowski
– Michael Berkowski, Commented May 3, 2012 at 19:43
json_decode() correctly decodes that JSON file for me, no problems. — Michael Berkowski
– Michael Berkowski, Commented May 3, 2012 at 19:44
But how do i get the json echo'd so that i could read the result of the php as json? — Philipp Siegfried
– Philipp Siegfried, Commented May 3, 2012 at 19:49

Lawrence Cherone · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-03 20:12:26Z

1

If you just want to proxy/forward the response then just echo it as it is with the correct Content-Type header:

<?php
    header('Content-Type: application/json');
    $json = file_get_contents('http://vimeo.com/api/v2/channel/photographyschool/videos.json');
    echo $json;
?>

Tho you have to be very wary of the url passed as it could cause XSS!

And as the API is slow/resource hungry you should cache the result or at least save it in a session so its not repeated on each page load.

<?php
$cache = './vimeoCache.json';
$url = 'http://vimeo.com/api/v2/channel/photographyschool/videos.json';

//Set the correct header
header('Content-Type: application/json');

// If a cache file exists, and it is newer than 1 hour, use it
if(file_exists($cache) && filemtime($cache) > time() - 60*60){
    echo file_get_contents($cache);
}else{
    //Grab content and overwrite cache file
    $jsonData = file_get_contents($url);
    file_put_contents($cache,$jsonData);
    echo $jsonData;
}
?>

edited May 3, 2012 at 20:12

answered May 3, 2012 at 19:53

Lawrence Cherone

46.7k7 gold badges66 silver badges107 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

Philipp Siegfried Over a year ago

is there no way just to "echo" the json in the correct json format so that my php is just printing out what vimeo json is delivering?

nickb Over a year ago

You mean like this? $json = file_get_contents(...); echo $json;

honyovk · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-03 20:19:49Z

1

Use this:

echo json_decode($json);

EDIT: FORGET the above. Try adding:

header('Content-Type: text/plain');

above

$url = $_GET['url'];

and see if that helps.

edited May 3, 2012 at 20:19

answered May 3, 2012 at 19:43

honyovk

2,73720 silver badges26 bronze badges

11 Comments

honyovk Over a year ago

@PhilippSiegfried yes, json_decode will turn the JSON into a PHP array. How are you parsing the JSON in your JS?

Philipp Siegfried Over a year ago

I would like to have the php as some sort of proxy to prevent cross-site-scripting problems when i do an ajax call from a different machine!

Pateman Over a year ago

Use print_r() instead, maybe?

Philipp Siegfried Over a year ago

then i get Array ( [0] => stdClass Object ( [id] => 40573637 [title] => All For Nothing - "Dead To Me" & "Twisted Tongues" ... which is no valid json too..

honyovk Over a year ago

@PhilippSiegfried Try adding header('Content-Type: text/plain'); above $url = $_GET['url']; and if that helps

|

Antoine · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-03 19:45:37Z

0

You should use json_decode : http://php.net/manual/en/function.json-decode.php

answered May 3, 2012 at 19:45

Antoine

2,8071 gold badge18 silver badges23 bronze badges

Comments

Lucian Vasile · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-03 19:46:11Z

0

better yet, where you deliver your json use:

json_encode(array(
    "id" => 40573637,
    "title" => 'All For Nothing - "Dead To Me" & "Twisted Tongues"'
));

answered May 3, 2012 at 19:46

Lucian Vasile

5025 silver badges17 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Unable to get json in correct format with file_get_contents()

4 Answers 4

2 Comments

11 Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

4 Answers 4

2 Comments

11 Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related