How to format JSON properly when using PHP

Question

I'm using PHP to take the inputs of an HTML form and add them to a JSON file like so:

$file = ('inputs');
      $array = array(
        'First Name' => $firstname,
        'Last Name' => $lastname,
        'Email' => $email,
   );

It worked initially but when I added multiple sets of data I was getting an "expected end of document" error in VS Code because I had to put [] tags around the data sets which are enclosed in {} tags.

// Example of JSON Data
[
       {
           "First Name": "James",
           "Last Name": "Smith",
           "Email": "[email protected]",
       }
]

When I add more data it adds the {} data outside of the [] tags and I have no idea how to fix it so that it goes within the [] tags, so I'm hoping someone here has some tips to help me out.

Does this answer your question? Append data to a .JSON file with PHP — kelvin
– kelvin, Commented Sep 12, 2020 at 8:49
You don't say how you generate JSON but there's only one builtin tool and it doesn't have this problem. — Álvaro González
– Álvaro González, Commented Sep 12, 2020 at 8:53

Markus Zeller · Accepted Answer · 2020-09-12 08:55:50Z

1

To put it in an array, just wrap an array around.

$array = ['First Name' => $firstname, 'Last Name' => $lastname, 'Email' => $email];
$array = [$array];

or just in one step

$array = [['First Name' => $firstname, 'Last Name' => $lastname, 'Email' => $email]];

To make it look nice, you can use the JSON_PRETTY_PRINT option

echo json_encode($array, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);

[  
    {  
        "First Name": "James",  
        "Last Name": "Smith",  
        "Email": "[email protected]"  
    }  
]

answered Sep 12, 2020 at 8:55

Markus Zeller

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2 Comments

user14251675 Over a year ago

This sort of works but when I add more data from the form it puts all of them outside within new [ ] tags and causes errors in the JSON file

Álvaro González Over a year ago

@JU5TU5 Please edit the question and show your code, otherwise we can't say what's wrong with it. Is it possible you're concatenating several calls to json_encode()? Two JSON strings put together don't make JSON, just like you don't get a two story building by piling up two houses.

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