PHP JSON Decode Example

Convert a JSON string to a PHP array or object with json_decode(). Edit the code below and press Run to execute it with real PHP in your browser.

Code Editor

<?php
$json = '{"name":"John","age":30,"city":"New York"}';

$data = json_decode($json, true);   // associative array
echo "Name: " . $data["name"] . "\n";
echo "Age: " . $data["age"] . "\n";

$obj = json_decode($json);          // stdClass object
echo "City: " . $obj->city;

Output

Name: John
Age: 30
City: New York

How this json decode example works

Pass true as the second argument to get an associative array; without it you get an object and use ->. Invalid JSON returns null, so check errors as shown on the json_decode() reference page.