Arabic Characters in JSON decoding [duplicate]

Question

$test = json_encode('بسم الله');
echo $test;

As a result of this code, the output is: "\u0628\u0633\u0645 \u0627\u0644\u0644\u0647" while it should be something like "بسم الله". Arabic Characters are encoded when being JSON encoded while at the Youtube API this is not the case: http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos/RqMxTnTZeNE?v=2&alt=json

You can see at Youtube that Arabic characters are displayed properly. What could be my mistake?

HINT: I'm working on an API< the example is just for the sake of clarification.

Answer 1

"\u0628\u0633\u0645 \u0627\u0644\u0644\u0647" and "بسم الله" are equivalent in JSON.

PHP just defaults to using Unicode escapes instead of literals for multibyte characters.

You can specify otherwise with JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE (providing you are using PHP 5.4 or later).

json_encode('بسم الله', JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE);

Answer 2

That is the correct JSON encoded version of the UTF-8 string. There is no need to change it, it represents the correct string. Characters in JSON can be escaped this way.

JSON can represent UTF-8 characters directly if you want to. Since PHP 5.4 you have the option to set the JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE flag to produce raw UTF-8 strings:

json_encode($string, JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE)

But that is only a preference, it is not necessary.

Answer 3

Both formats are valid and equivalent JSON strings:

char
    any-Unicode-character-
        except-"-or-\-or-
        control-character
    \"
    \\
    \/
    \b
    \f
    \n
    \r
    \t
    \u four-hex-digits

If you prefer the unencoded version, simply add the JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE flag:

<?php

$test = json_encode('بسم الله', JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE);
echo $test;

This flag requires PHP/5.4.0 or greater.