Create nested hashes from an array of elements for JSON encoding

Question

I have produced an array of fruits stored somewhere. Say it looks like this

$myFruits = array("apples"=>1, "oranges"=>3, "bananas"=>5);

This array is then passed into a function that will return json-encoded data for an API.

First, I wanted to be able to return a list of all the types of fruits I have

{"fruits":["apples", "oranges", "bananas"]}

I used this to accomplish it

echo json_encode(array("scripts" => array_keys($scripts)));

Now, I would like each type of fruit to be contained in its own hash, as such

{"fruits":
  [
    {name: "apples"
    },
    {name: "oranges"
    },
    {name: "bananas"
  ]
}

This way I can add additional fields to each fruit object without breaking existing code that may be using previous versions of this API (eg: if I decided to add the fruit counts in there as well).

Seeing how I can just create a new array and assign my list of fruits to a key called "fruits", I tried to do the same for each inner hash:

$myFruits = array("apples"=>1, "oranges"=>3, "bananas"=>5);
$data = array();
foreach ($myFruits as $key => $value) {

  // initialize an associative array for each fruit
  $val = array();
  array_push($val, array("name" => $key));

  // add it to the list of fruits
  array_push($data, $val);
}

// assign list of fruits to "fruits" key
$outData = array("fruits" => $data);
echo json_encode($outData);

But I get this instead

{"fruits":[[{"name":"apples"}],[{"name":"oranges"}],[{"name":"bananas"}]]}

There are extra square braces around each fruit hash, which I assume is because I'm using an array to store each key-value pair.

How would I get my desired output?

Patrick Q · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-12 16:02:50Z

3

You're close to knowing what you're doing wrong. You're creating an array, and then just using it to add one item (another array) to it.

// initialize an associative array for each fruit
$val = array(); // this guy here is unnecessary!!
array_push($val, array("name" => $key));

// add it to the list of fruits
array_push($data, $val);

Instead, just push each individual array onto $data directly like this:

array_push($data, array("name" => $key));

DEMO

edited Aug 12, 2014 at 16:02

answered Aug 12, 2014 at 15:54

Patrick Q

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5 Comments

MxLDevs Over a year ago

If I wanted to extend each fruit hash with a count pair (eg: {"name:banana", "count: 1"}), this approach doesn't seem to work. Which is why I initially thought of having that extra array.

Patrick Q Over a year ago

Of course it works. Just use array("name" => $key, "count" => $someCount) instead.

MxLDevs Over a year ago

Oh, in that case what is the difference between creating a new array and populating it first, and creating a new array in-line?

Patrick Q Over a year ago

Because you were doing both. You were creating an empty array, and then putting your name/value pair array within that.

MxLDevs Over a year ago

You're right, now that I look at it again, I assumed that was how key-value pairs were added, which evidently isn't the case!

Steve · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-12 15:59:47Z

1

You are creating an extra level in your array, simply push a new array onto $data in each iteration:

foreach ($myFruits as $key => $value) {
  $data[]=array("name" => $key, "count" => $value);
}

*edited as per your comment

answered Aug 12, 2014 at 15:59

Steve

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