php json_encode() show's null instead of text

Question

I am reading from database with some text in Hebrew and trying to json_encode it. if i print_r the results i get:

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [value] => 88
            [text] => כיתה א'
            [parent_id] => 1
            [level] => 1
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [value] => 89
            [text] => כיתה ב'
            [parent_id] => 1
            [level] => 1
        )

    [2] => Array
        (
            [value] => 91
            [text] => כיתה ג'
            [parent_id] => 1
            [level] => 1
        )

)

while the json_encode shows:

[{"value":"88","text":null,"parent_id":"1","level":"1"},{"value":"89","text":null,"parent_id":"1","level":"1"},{"value":"91","text":null,"parent_id":"1","level":"1"}]

i belive it's because my text from the database contains a ( ' ) mark. tried various combination of stripslashes or real_escape_string none have helped.

Answer 1

json_encode expects strings in the data to be encoded as UTF-8.

Convert them to UTF-8 if they aren't already:

$results = array_map(function($r) {
  $r['text'] = utf8_encode($r['text']);
  return $r;
}, $results);
echo json_encode($results);

Answer 2

Best and quickest solution I found was in the PHP Reference itself, by Sam Barnum

$encodedArray = array_map(utf8_encode, $rawArray);

Answer 3

$dbh = new PDO('mysql:host=localhost;dbname=test', 
                $user, 
                $pass
              ); 

$dbh->exec("SET CHARACTER SET utf8");

or

$dbh = new PDO("mysql:host=$dbhost;dbname=$dbname", 
                $dbuser, 
                $dbpass, 
                array( PDO::MYSQL_ATTR_INIT_COMMAND => "SET NAMES utf8")
              );

Answer 4

Try json_encode($string, JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE); (only for PHP v5.4.0+ - see docs).

Answer 5

function change_null($d) 
{
    if (is_array($d)) {
        foreach ($d as $k => $v) {
            $d[$k] = change_null($v);
        }
    } else if(is_null($d))
    {
        return '';
    }
    return $d;
}

This recursive function will change null values to '' empty string. When calling json_encode($your_array) to json_encode(change_null($your_array));

Answer 6

One of the easiest way is to SET the CHARSET for MySQL query. If you want to set the same charset for all your queries, then just add the following in your configuration or database connection file.

mysql_query('SET CHARACTER SET utf8');

If you just want it on specific queries, then just use this right before executing your queries