php json_encode not escaping new lines

Question

I am facing some issue with json_encode.

when i json_encode an array having new lines it is not escaping new lines instead it's removing \ and keeping n.

ex: $array = array('name'=> "some text \n\r text");
$results = json_encode($array);

it is saving some text nr text in database .

i am using php 5.3.8.

edit:

This is my original code i am using

$attr = array();
for($i=0; $i < count($_POST['key']); $i++){
    $attr[$_POST['key'][$i]] = $_POST['value'][$i];
}
echo json_encode(array('custom' => $attr));

these POST values getting from form.

Answer 1

Newlines are not valid characters inside of JSON strings. That's the expected behavior:

char

any Unicode character except " or \ or control-character

• \"
• \
• /
• \b
• \f
• \n
• \r
• \t
• \u four-hex-digits

JSON escapes those control characters into those in the list.

So now we have '\n' (literally a backslash followed by 'n'), which, if not escaped properly, will be saved in the database as n. And that is the problem you're experiencing.

The Solution

Use prepared statements to properly escape any and all slashes in the strings you're storing in your database. That will save them as '\n', which you can convert to "\n" when you retrieve your data.