PHP json_encode { } characters

Question

I want my json_encode to have a serialized string of:

 ['Element', 'Density', { role: 'style' }]

How do I do it?

I tried

   $data = array('Element', 'Density', "{ role: 'style' }");
   echo json_encode($data);

produces:

["Element","Density","{ role: 'style' }"]

Note the extra quotes

array('Element', 'Density', array('role' => 'style')); . Having a look at examples sometimes helps: php.net/manual/en/function.json-encode.php — Felix Kling
– Felix Kling, Commented Oct 1, 2014 at 1:46
you are trying to get an array that contains a dictionary, but you are inserting a string. — Brad Allred
– Brad Allred, Commented Oct 1, 2014 at 1:46
Note this is what you get when you mix keys with numerical indexes: codepad.org/aVsWPy5V — Jared Farrish
– Jared Farrish, Commented Oct 1, 2014 at 1:47

Kevin · Accepted Answer · 2014-10-01 01:46:05Z

3

You nest it in another array:

$data = array('Element', 'Density', array('role' => 'style'));
                                  // ^ another nesting here
echo json_encode($data);

answered Oct 1, 2014 at 1:46

Kevin

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3 Comments

Thanks. It woks. I got thrown off because the nested array uses {} instead of [].

@Yada yeah, you really don't need to write it by hand, just construct a normal array structure, that json_encode() will handle that automatically

json_encode will by default treat PHP associative arrays as JSON objects, translating array keys into properties.