PHP make json_encode DO NOT escape double quotes

Question

I am using laravel and I want to seed json in my database. So what I'm doing is json_encode($array). But this puts "\" on every " (double quote), which I don't want, how can I generate json from array without putting slashes in fron of every double quote?

This is the array:

$fields = [
            [
                'name' => 'image',
                'type' => 'file',
                'view' => 'image',
                'validations' => 'required|image',
                'label' => 'image'
            ]
        ];

When I use json_encode($fields) it stores it in the db like:

"[{\"name\":\"image\",\"type\":\"file\",\"view\":\"image\",\"validations\":\"required|image\",\"label\":\"image\"}]"

I don't want those slashes, because I have to use json_decode() twice because of them. Also that $casts attribute in Laravel decodes them only once.

FIX This is what I tried and it worked

I have this in my model:

/**
     * The attributes that should be cast to native types.
     *
     * @var array
     */
    protected $casts = [
        'fields' => 'array',
        'translatable_fields' => 'array'
    ];

So it should decode it automatically. This is how was I saving it in the database from the seeder:

$moduleTemplate = new ModuleTemplate;
        $moduleTemplate->translateOrNew('en')->name = 'Image with text';
        $moduleTemplate->translateOrNew('bg')->name = 'Снимка с тескт';
        $moduleTemplate->view = 'section-1';

        $fields = collect([
            [
                'name' => 'image',
                'type' => 'file',
                'view' => 'image',
                'validations' => 'required|image',
                'label' => 'image'
            ]
        ]);

        $moduleTemplate->fields = $fields->toJson();

        $translatableFields = collect([
            [
                'name' => 'title',
                'type' => 'text',
                'view' => 'input',
                'validations' => 'required|string|max:190',
                'label' => 'title'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'text',
                'type' => 'wysiwyg',
                'view' => 'wysiwyg',
                'validations' => 'required|string',
                'label' => 'text'
            ]   
        ]);

        $moduleTemplate->translatable_fields = $translatableFields->toJson();
        $moduleTemplate->save();

And it was putting the slashes everytime What I did to fix it was simply to remove ->toJson() from the arrays and it worked

Answer 1

Simply change your quotes format from

json_encode('"glossary": {"title": "example glossary"}');

to

json_encode("'glossary': {'title': 'example glossary'}");

Edit based on your comments

With

$fields = [ [ "name" => "image", 'type' => 'file', 'view' => 'image', 'validations' => 'required|image', 'label' => 'image' ] ];

When I do

json_encode($fields)

It returns me

[{"name":"image","type":"file","view":"image","validations":"required|image","label":"image"}]

Using Laravel 4.2, not tested with Laravel > 5

You might be doing something wrong with your JSON data