PHP - How can I iterate through this json response?

Question

I have a json response from an API and I can't create an array from it with "json_decode" in PHP to iterate through this as an array. I always get "NULL", when I use "var_dump" to print out, what my "json_decode" returns. The response-header of this API response is "application/json", but I am not familiar with this json format.

The json response from the API looks like this:

[1,"Example name","307","7","Test","455",1458572100000]
[1,"Another example name","146","7","Test","455",1458571500000]
[1,"Test","304","7","Test","455",1458572280000]
[1,"Example name 3","163","7","Hello world","455",1458571080000]

This is the result/response of a single API request. Now, for example, I want to get the penultimate number (in this case everytime 455) of every line/object or, for example, the name (second value: "Example name", "Another example name", "Test" and so on). How can I do this with php and this json format? It would be nice, if I can get an array from this to iterate through.

It's a local realtime bus arrival API, but it's similar to/the same as content.tfl.gov.uk/…and I call this API with a simple http/get request using file_get_contents in PHP

"/interfaces/ura/instant_V1?returnList=stopID,stopPointName,LineID,DestinationT‌ext,estimatedTime,vehicleID&vehicleID=455")

you got all 4 of those lines back from the api? then that's not valid json. it's 4 separate json arrays stuck together, which is illegal syntax for json. you'd have to explode this string on the newlines, then decode each separate line as a distinct json string. — Marc B
– Marc B, Commented Mar 21, 2016 at 14:46
Is that ONE RESPONSE from the API or 4 seperate responses from 4 seperate calls to the API? — RiggsFolly
– RiggsFolly, Commented Mar 21, 2016 at 14:49
Yes, all 4 of those lines are in one single response from the api with the http header "application/json". Depending on my request parameters, I can also get, of cource, more than 4 lines, sometimes 10, 50 or even 500 of those lines within one response. — J. Wenston
– J. Wenston, Commented Mar 21, 2016 at 14:54
Then either the API is rubbish or you are chopping off some wrapper text that makes that into proper JSON. Did you remove a { and a } from the beginning and end of the string that gets returned? — RiggsFolly
– RiggsFolly, Commented Mar 21, 2016 at 14:57

Egg · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-21 15:20:21Z

0

To clarify, that's not JSON format that you're getting back. But if that's what you're getting then you need a solution :)

I would ignore the first & last character and use str_getcsv() to return the comma separated string as an array:

$input = '[1,"Example name","307","7","Test","455",1458572100000]';
$array = str_getcsv(substr($input, 1, -1));

If you are having multple lines, then you'll want to split them into individual lines before doing the above with:

$lines = explode($input, "]");
$array = array();
foreach($lines AS $line) {
    $input = '[1,"Example name","307","7","Test","455",1458572100000]';
    $array[] = str_getcsv(substr($input, 1, -1));
}

Updated to show delimeter of ] instead of \n as per comment below.

edited Mar 21, 2016 at 15:20

answered Mar 21, 2016 at 14:57

Egg

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7 Comments

J. Wenston Over a year ago

Thank you for your answer. This method works, but with "\n", I get my multiple lines (4) as one line and the php function "count" also returns "1", when I run it on $lines. Every "item" in my API response has it's own line, but inexplicably "\n" doesn't work for each line.

J. Wenston Over a year ago

Now I used the last char "]" as delimeter and it works. Now I'm getting one array for each line.

Egg Over a year ago

Glad it's working. Updated answer with the different delimiter for you to accept the answer (although your example shows they are separated with new lines?).

RiggsFolly Over a year ago

If this works for you fine, but it is fixing a symptom of the problem and not fixing the real issue. As likely as not you will get situations that do not fit the workaround later on

Egg Over a year ago

Indeed, I indicate this in the answer. Let me make that message clearer for future visitors

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