Json_decode returning Null and Error 4

Question

I'm getting null when I decode my Json. $contactInfo is a String from Java(Android) pushed via Volley. I did check the string, it is a string.

I have tried the following

1) Make the $contactInfo with one user's contact only

2) Removed spaces

3) Remove special characters like ♡

4) Remove +

The closest solution I can find to reading such [[data,data],[data,data]] is to use json decode. Is there any other way for me to read this into a array or json?

$contactInfo = "[[john qiu, +16266169643], [Vince, +65 5888 8447]]"
$obj = stripslashes($contactInfo);
$obj = json_decode($obj);
echo json_last_error();

echo is returning JSON_ERROR_SYNTAX

contactInfo, for some users , there are special characters like "♡"

Where is $data, the error is pretty self-explanatory. It isn't valid JSON syntax. [[john qiu, +1626643]] isn't valid JSON if that's what you are referring to. — Devon Bessemer
– Devon Bessemer, Commented May 13, 2015 at 2:08
@Devon The closest solution I can find to reading such [[data,data],[data,data]] is to use json decode. Is there any other way for me to read this into a array or json? — JohnDotOwl
– JohnDotOwl, Commented May 13, 2015 at 2:14
Where are you getting this data from? There are certainly other ways, but it'd probably just be easier to address the format of the data at the source. — Devon Bessemer
– Devon Bessemer, Commented May 13, 2015 at 2:16
[[john qiu, +1626643]] is not a valid JSON {[john qiu, +1626643]} should be. Can u dump the whole string you are getting returned, and tell us if the form is always the same, maybe we can figure out a function to decode it. — Pawel Bieszczad
– Pawel Bieszczad, Commented May 13, 2015 at 2:20
@PawelBieszczad I tried hard coding {[john qiu, +1626643]}. I have updated the "whole dump" I received — JohnDotOwl
– JohnDotOwl, Commented May 13, 2015 at 2:57

Pawel Bieszczad · Accepted Answer · 2015-05-13 13:01:42Z

2

The correct JSON format is

$contactInfo = '[["john qiu", 16266169643], ["Vince", 6558888447]]"

You can validate your output, to see if its right on some website like this one for example

answered May 13, 2015 at 13:01

Pawel Bieszczad

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Shinnachot Dejtanapong · Accepted Answer · 2015-05-13 02:17:06Z

0

How about this code

$contactInfo = "[[john qiu, +1626643]]";
$obj = json_decode($contactInfo, true);
var_dump($obj);

answered May 13, 2015 at 2:17

Shinnachot Dejtanapong

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JohnDotOwl Over a year ago

Nope :( Getting null still

G S Bajaj · Accepted Answer · 2015-05-13 04:44:21Z

0

$contactInfo = "[[john qiu, +16266169643], [Vince, +65 5888 8447]]"

In PHP, above $contactInfo itself is an array. To avoid any error, please ensure the non-numeric values are in quotes. eg:

$contactInfo = "[['john qiu', '+16266169643'], ['Vince', '+65 5888 8447']]"

answered May 13, 2015 at 4:44

G S Bajaj

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Yasen Zhelev · Accepted Answer · 2015-06-03 16:29:39Z

0

The whole string should be wrapped in single quotes allowing you to encapsulate the json string segments in double quotes

<?php
$contactInfo = '[["john qiu", "+16266169643"], ["Vince", "+65 5888 8447"]]';
json_decode($contactInfo, true);
echo json_last_error(); 
?>
<b>output 0</b>

If your data doesn't come formatted like this you may have to do some clever preg_replace

edited Jun 3, 2015 at 16:29

Yasen Zhelev

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answered Jun 3, 2015 at 16:09

DiTMan

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