json decode in php

Question

I have the following json string and I want to retrieve just the email address from it. How do I do it in php?

{\"communications\":{\"communication\":[{\"@a         


        

Answer 1

<?php
$string = '{"communications":{"communication":[{"@array":"true","@id":"23101384","@uri":"xyz/v1/Communications/1111","household":{"@id":"111111","@uri":"xyz/v1/Households/5465465"},"person":{"@id":"","@uri":""},"communicationType":{"@id":"1","@uri":"xyz/v1/Communications/CommunicationTypes/1","name":"Home Phone"},"communicationGeneralType":"Telephone","communicationValue":"1111","searchCommunicationValue":"2693240758","listed":"true","communicationComment":null,"createdDate":"2008-11-10T12:31:26","lastUpdatedDate":"2009-08-11T23:40:02"},{"@array":"true","@id":"11111","@uri":"xyz/v1/Communications/111111111","household":{"@id":"14436295","@uri":"xyz/v1/Households/11111"},"person":{"@id":"2222222","@uri":"xyz/v1/People/22222222"},"communicationType":{"@id":"2","@uri":"xyz/v1/Communications/CommunicationTypes/2","name":"Work Phone"},"communicationGeneralType":"Telephone","communicationValue":"11111","searchCommunicationValue":"789787987","listed":"false","communicationComment":null,"createdDate":"2009-08-09T15:49:27","lastUpdatedDate":"2009-08-11T23:40:02"},{"@array":"true","@id":"11111","@uri":"xyz/v1/Communications/11111","household":{"@id":"1111","@uri":"xyz/v1/Households/1111"},"person":{"@id":"244404","@uri":"xyz/v1/People/1111"},"communicationType":{"@id":"3","@uri":"xyz/v1/Communications/CommunicationTypes/3","name":"Mobile"},"communicationGeneralType":"Telephone","communicationValue":"22222","searchCommunicationValue":"5475454","listed":"true","communicationComment":null,"createdDate":"2008-11-10T12:31:26","lastUpdatedDate":"2009-08-11T23:40:02"},{"@array":"true","@id":"15454","@uri":"xyz/v1/Communications/111111","household":{"@id":"14436295","@uri":"xyz/v1/Households/1111"},"person":{"@id":"244444474","@uri":"xyz/v1/People/111111"},"communicationType":{"@id":"4","@uri":"xyz/v1/Communications/CommunicationTypes/4","name":"Email"},"communicationGeneralType":"Email","communicationValue":"email@needthis.com","searchCommunicationValue":"email@needthis.com","listed":"true","communicationComment":null,"createdDate":"2008-11-10T12:31:26","lastUpdatedDate":"2009-08-11T23:39:06"}]}}';

$encoded = json_decode($string, JSON_FORCE_OBJECT);

echo $encoded['communications']['communication'][3]['communicationValue'];

echo "\n";

echo $encoded['communications']['communication'][3]['searchCommunicationValue'];

?>

But if communicationValue or searchCommunicationValue ever get out of index 3 of communication, you're in trouble. You'll probably have to loop communication and search for these strings on its keys/values.

Answer 2

Nice example written by me

Pass the json_object and 1 in function, you will see all values as per structure.

function decodejson($value,$num){
    if (count($value,0) > 0 && is_array($value)){
        foreach ($value as $key =>$tvalue){
            if (is_array($tvalue)){
                //echo $key."-<br />";
                $num++;
                decodejson($tvalue,$num);
            }else
                echo str_repeat("&nbsp;", $num).$key."->".$tvalue."<br />";
        }
    }else
        echo str_repeat("&nbsp;", $num).$key."->".$value."<br />";
}

Answer 3

Another twist on how inerte did it would be to access it like:

$json_object = '{"communications":
                       {"communication":
                         [{"@array":"true","@id":"23101384","@uri":"xyz/v1/Communications/1111","household":
                            {"@id":"111111","@uri":"xyz/v1/Households/5465465"},
                            "person": {"@id":"","@uri":""},
                            "communicationType":{"@id":"1","@uri":"xyz/v1/Communications/CommunicationTypes/1","name":"Home Phone"},
                            "communicationGeneralType":"Telephone","communicationValue":"1111","searchCommunicationValue":"2693240758",
                               "listed":"true","communicationComment":null,"createdDate":"2008-11-10T12:31:26","lastUpdatedDate":"2009-08-11T23:40:02"},
                            {"@array":"true","@id":"11111","@uri":"xyz/v1/Communications/111111111","household":
                              {"@id":"14436295","@uri":"xyz/v1/Households/11111"},
                            "person": {"@id":"2222222","@uri":"xyz/v1/People/22222222"},
                            "communicationType": {"@id":"2","@uri":"xyz/v1/Communications/CommunicationTypes/2","name":"Work Phone"},
                            "communicationGeneralType":"Telephone","communicationValue":"11111","searchCommunicationValue":"789787987","listed":"false",
                                "communicationComment":null,"createdDate":"2009-08-09T15:49:27","lastUpdatedDate":"2009-08-11T23:40:02"},
                            {"@array":"true","@id":"11111","@uri":"xyz/v1/Communications/11111","household": {"@id":"1111","@uri":"xyz/v1/Households/1111"},
                            "person":{"@id":"244404","@uri":"xyz/v1/People/1111"},
                            "communicationType":{"@id":"3","@uri":"xyz/v1/Communications/CommunicationTypes/3","name":"Mobile"},
                            "communicationGeneralType":"Telephone","communicationValue":"22222","searchCommunicationValue":"5475454","listed":"true",
                                "communicationComment":null,"createdDate":"2008-11-10T12:31:26","lastUpdatedDate":"2009-08-11T23:40:02"},
                            {"@array":"true","@id":"15454","@uri":"xyz/v1/Communications/111111","household":{"@id":"14436295","@uri":"xyz/v1/Households/1111"},
                            "person":{"@id":"244444474","@uri":"xyz/v1/People/111111"},
                            "communicationType":{"@id":"4","@uri":"xyz/v1/Communications/CommunicationTypes/4","name":"Email"},
                            "communicationGeneralType":"Email","communicationValue":"email@needthis.com","searchCommunicationValue":"email@needthis.com","listed":"true",
                            "communicationComment":null,"createdDate":"2008-11-10T12:31:26","lastUpdatedDate":"2009-08-11T23:39:06"}
                         ]
                       }
                      }';


    $json_decoded = json_decode($json_object);
    echo "email: ".$json_decoded->communications->communication[3]->communicationValue."<br />";

Answer 4

Considering you have json_decoded you data this way :

$data = json_decode($json);

You can use var_dump (well, it's output looks way better if used with the Xdebug extension, which is nice to have on a development machine, btw) to know what's in your data :

// Allows you to know what's in the data ;-)
var_dump($data);

You'll get something like this :

object(stdClass)[1]
  public 'communications' => 
    object(stdClass)[2]
      public 'communication' => 
        array
          0 => 
            object(stdClass)[3]
              public '@array' => string 'true' (length=4)
              public '@id' => string '23101384' (length=8)
              public '@uri' => string 'xyz/v1/Communications/1111' (length=26)
              public 'household' => 
                object(stdClass)[4]
                  public '@id' => string '111111' (length=6)
                  public '@uri' => string 'xyz/v1/Households/5465465' (length=25)
              public 'person' => 
                object(stdClass)[5]
                  public '@id' => string '' (length=0)
                  public '@uri' => string '' (length=0)
              public 'communicationType' => 
                object(stdClass)[6]
                  public '@id' => string '1' (length=1)
                  public '@uri' => string 'xyz/v1/Communications/CommunicationTypes/1' (length=42)
                  public 'name' => string 'Home Phone' (length=10)
              public 'communicationGeneralType' => string 'Telephone' (length=9)
              public 'communicationValue' => string '1111' (length=4)
              public 'searchCommunicationValue' => string '2693240758' (length=10)
              public 'listed' => string 'true' (length=4)
              public 'communicationComment' => null
              public 'createdDate' => string '2008-11-10T12:31:26' (length=19)
              public 'lastUpdatedDate' => string '2009-08-11T23:40:02' (length=19)
          1 => 
            object(stdClass)[7]
              public '@array' => string 'true' (length=4)
              public '@id' => string '11111' (length=5)
              public '@uri' => string 'xyz/v1/Communications/111111111' (length=31)
              public 'household' => 
                object(stdClass)[8]
                  public '@id' => string '14436295' (length=8)
                  public '@uri' => string 'xyz/v1/Households/11111' (length=23)
              public 'person' => 
                object(stdClass)[9]
                  public '@id' => string '2222222' (length=7)
                  public '@uri' => string 'xyz/v1/People/22222222' (length=22)
              public 'communicationType' => 
                object(stdClass)[10]
                  public '@id' => string '2' (length=1)
                  public '@uri' => string 'xyz/v1/Communications/CommunicationTypes/2' (length=42)
                  public 'name' => string 'Work Phone' (length=10)
              public 'communicationGeneralType' => string 'Telephone' (length=9)
              public 'communicationValue' => string '11111' (length=5)
              public 'searchCommunicationValue' => string '789787987' (length=9)
              public 'listed' => string 'false' (length=5)
              public 'communicationComment' => null
              public 'createdDate' => string '2009-08-09T15:49:27' (length=19)
              public 'lastUpdatedDate' => string '2009-08-11T23:40:02' (length=19)
          2 => 
            object(stdClass)[11]
              public '@array' => string 'true' (length=4)
              public '@id' => string '11111' (length=5)
              public '@uri' => string 'xyz/v1/Communications/11111' (length=27)
              public 'household' => 
                object(stdClass)[12]
                  public '@id' => string '1111' (length=4)
                  public '@uri' => string 'xyz/v1/Households/1111' (length=22)
              public 'person' => 
                object(stdClass)[13]
                  public '@id' => string '244404' (length=6)
                  public '@uri' => string 'xyz/v1/People/1111' (length=18)
              public 'communicationType' => 
                object(stdClass)[14]
                  public '@id' => string '3' (length=1)
                  public '@uri' => string 'xyz/v1/Communications/CommunicationTypes/3' (length=42)
                  public 'name' => string 'Mobile' (length=6)
              public 'communicationGeneralType' => string 'Telephone' (length=9)
              public 'communicationValue' => string '22222' (length=5)
              public 'searchCommunicationValue' => string '5475454' (length=7)
              public 'listed' => string 'true' (length=4)
              public 'communicationComment' => null
              public 'createdDate' => string '2008-11-10T12:31:26' (length=19)
              public 'lastUpdatedDate' => string '2009-08-11T23:40:02' (length=19)
          3 => 
            object(stdClass)[15]
              public '@array' => string 'true' (length=4)
              public '@id' => string '15454' (length=5)
              public '@uri' => string 'xyz/v1/Communications/111111' (length=28)
              public 'household' => 
                object(stdClass)[16]
                  public '@id' => string '14436295' (length=8)
                  public '@uri' => string 'xyz/v1/Households/1111' (length=22)
              public 'person' => 
                object(stdClass)[17]
                  public '@id' => string '244444474' (length=9)
                  public '@uri' => string 'xyz/v1/People/111111' (length=20)
              public 'communicationType' => 
                object(stdClass)[18]
                  public '@id' => string '4' (length=1)
                  public '@uri' => string 'xyz/v1/Communications/CommunicationTypes/4' (length=42)
                  public 'name' => string 'Email' (length=5)
              public 'communicationGeneralType' => string 'Email' (length=5)
              public 'communicationValue' => string 'email@needthis.com' (length=18)
              public 'searchCommunicationValue' => string 'email@needthis.com' (length=18)
              public 'listed' => string 'true' (length=4)
              public 'communicationComment' => null
              public 'createdDate' => string '2008-11-10T12:31:26' (length=19)
              public 'lastUpdatedDate' => string '2009-08-11T23:39:06' (length=19)

Which means you should be able to access the data you're looking for with something like this :

foreach ($data->communications->communication as $communication) {
    if ($communication->communicationGeneralType == 'Email') {
        var_dump($communication->communicationValue);
        var_dump($communication->searchCommunicationValue);
    }
}

Which will get you :

string 'email@needthis.com' (length=18)
string 'email@needthis.com' (length=18)

"communications" is an object, that contains "communication", which is an array of objects, each one containing a communicationGeneralType, which allows you to determine whether the current communication is an EMail or not.

WHen it is, you can use the communicationValue or searchCommunicationValue fields.

And I don't really see a way of doing this without iterating over every communication element...

Hope this helps!

Answer 5

You could use json_decode(). Your example string there is a bit complicated for me to think about right now, but as an example of my own:

$json = '{"a":"apples","b":["bananas","boysenberries"],"c":"carrots"}';

$arr = json_decode($json);
echo $arr['a']; // "apples"
echo $arr['b'][0]; // "bananas"