how to decode JSON data from API with PHP 7.4

Question

i connect to api with cURL and receive JSON response. cannot use PHP to parse data because of PHP error: 'Trying to access array offset on value of type int' i have used json_decode() but still receive error. i have also tried decode as both array and object by setting 2nd parameter to 'true' and 'false'. i have used gettype() and received NULL response. i am using PHP 7.4.3 but i believe this would work in older versions of PHP. how do we parse the JSON into a PHP object or array in these newer versions?

here is the JSON returned from api:

{"count":8,"next":"https://pokeapi.co/api/v2/generation/?offset=2&limit=2","previous":null,"results":[{"name":"generation-i","url":"https://pokeapi.co/api/v2/generation/1/"},{"name":"generation-ii","url":"https://pokeapi.co/api/v2/generation/2/"}]}

and here is my PHP:

$ch = curl_init();

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, 'https://pokeapi.co/api/v2/generation/?limit=2');

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array('Content-Type: application/json'));

$output = curl_exec($ch);

curl_close($ch);

$decoded = json_decode($output, false);

echo $decoded->count;

//  i've also tried:
//  $decoded = json_decode($output, true);
//  echo $decoded['count']

//  as well as $decoded = json_decode($output);```

Andres Aya · Accepted Answer · 2022-10-16 03:26:56Z

1

you must specify curl CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER so that it can return the value as a string

<?php

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, array(
  CURLOPT_URL => 'https://pokeapi.co/api/v2/generation/?limit=2',
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => 'GET',
));

$output = curl_exec($curl);

curl_close($curl);

$decoded = json_decode($output);

echo $decoded->count;

?>

Here more options that can help you https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.curl-setopt.php

answered Oct 16, 2022 at 3:26

Andres Aya

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Comments

Ken Lee · Accepted Answer · 2022-10-16 03:51:22Z

0

Please note that json_decode decodes a JSON string

So use json_decode to decode the json string and it should work:

<?php
$output='{"count":8,"next":"https://pokeapi.co/api/v2/generation/?offset=2&limit=2","previous":null,"results":[{"name":"generation-i","url":"https://pokeapi.co/api/v2/generation/1/"},{"name":"generation-ii","url":"https://pokeapi.co/api/v2/generation/2/"}]}';


$decoded = json_decode($output, false);

echo "Count is " . $decoded->count;
echo "<br>";


echo "1st name is " . $decoded->results[0]->name;
echo "<br>";

echo "2nd name is " . $decoded->results[1]->name;
echo "<br>";

?>

Check this sandbox (tried:- PHP 7.4.32 works)

https://onlinephp.io/c/a48d3

Additional Information

For your case, you may simply use file_get_contents to replace curl:

<?php
$url="https://pokeapi.co/api/v2/generation/?limit=2";

$output = file_get_contents($url, true);

?>
<?php


$decoded = json_decode($output, false);

echo "Count is " . $decoded->count;
echo "<br>";


echo "1st name is " . $decoded->results[0]->name;
echo "<br>";

echo "2nd name is " . $decoded->results[1]->name;
echo "<br>";

?>

edited Oct 16, 2022 at 3:51

answered Oct 16, 2022 at 3:08

Ken Lee

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2 Comments

bungee1980 Over a year ago

thank you kindly for your reply. i know that will work, but how to add quotes to the variable that i get from cURL call? i tried settype($output, "string") but did not work. still looking. am i correct in thinking my code would have worked in older versions?

Ken Lee Over a year ago

See my revised answer (see the additional information) for an alternative

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