PHP Json output with special character

Question

I am using this PHP script

<?php
mysql_connect("blabla", "blabla", "blabla") or die(mysql_error());
mysql_select_db("blabla") or die(mysql_error());

    $q=mysql_query("SELECT * FROM table ORDER BY id DESC");


 while($e=mysql_fetch_assoc($q))
             $output[]=$e;
       print(json_encode($output));
       mysql_close();
?>

The output is Json. In the mySQL database there are entries with "ü,ä, ö" (German) For entries containing an "ü, ä, ö" the value is "null". I cannot figure out what is the problem with these characters.

When json_encode returns not a string an error occured. Check if it returns NULL and handle the error condition. To find out which error happened, use json_last_error. — hakre
– hakre, Commented Dec 28, 2011 at 23:18
Which encoding has the data that comes from the database? Probably the only thing you need to do is to make the connection charset UTF-8. — hakre
– hakre, Commented Dec 28, 2011 at 23:19
In the db, okay. And for the connection to the db when you pull the data (mysql changes it on the fly so to meet the database clients expectation (that's your PHP script)). — hakre
– hakre, Commented Dec 28, 2011 at 23:24
Try: echo mysql_client_encoding(); after the mysql_connect() line ref - it will tell you the client encoding use. With mysql_set_charset('UTF8'); you should be able to change it if it's not UTF8. json_encode needs UTF8 encoded data. But add in any case what the echo'ed value is. — hakre
– hakre, Commented Dec 28, 2011 at 23:27

Niet the Dark Absol · Accepted Answer · 2011-12-28 23:11:15Z

1

Call utf8_encode on each string value before passing them to json_encode.

answered Dec 28, 2011 at 23:11

Niet the Dark Absol

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7 Comments

tobias Over a year ago

Can you give me a hint how to realize it. I have added my PHP code above.

Niet the Dark Absol Over a year ago

Replace $output[]=$e; with $output[] = is_string($e) ? utf8_encode($e) ? $e;

tobias Over a year ago

ok, we have to replace the second ? with a : But I stil get "null" instead of e.g. the word "für"

Niet the Dark Absol Over a year ago

Oops, sorry for the typo. Also, I see your elements are arrays. You need a nested solution. Okay, go back to $output[]=$e;, and then just before the print(), add this code: array_walk_recursive($output,function(&$a) {if(is_string($a)) $a = utf8_decode($a);});

tobias Over a year ago

This gives following error: Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_FUNCTION in /home/a80/public_html/get.php on line 17

|

Jonathan · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-24 23:02:15Z

0

Hade the same issue with swedish charset from php to js via ajax and json, values containing any chars like ÅÄÖ got assigned null. The solution turned out to be fairly simple:

Log into php myadmin
Change MySQL connection collation to utf8_swedish_ci (or your language equivalence, my guess would be utf8_unicode_ci for german but you probably know better).
Delete locally stored data such as cache, cookies, and localStorage and wholla it works!

Consequently, the key here is to make sure to set the correct MySQL connection collation in the home page of phpmyadmin (or similar) and repetitively use the same collation throughout your db.

edited Jun 24, 2012 at 23:02

answered Jun 24, 2012 at 22:53

Jonathan

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