Returning JSON from a PHP Script

Question

I want to return JSON from a PHP script.

Do I just echo the result? Do I have to set the Content-Type header?

Answer 1

While you're usually fine without it, you can and should set the Content-Type header:

<?php $data = /** whatever you're serializing **/; header('Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8'); echo json_encode($data); 

If I'm not using a particular framework, I usually allow some request params to modify the output behavior. It can be useful, generally for quick troubleshooting, to not send a header, or sometimes print_r the data payload to eyeball it (though in most cases, it shouldn't be necessary).

Answer 2

A complete piece of nice and clear PHP code returning JSON is:

$option = $_GET['option'];  if ( $option == 1 ) {     $data = [ 'a', 'b', 'c' ];     // will encode to JSON array: ["a","b","c"]     // accessed as example in JavaScript like: result[1] (returns "b") } else {     $data = [ 'name' => 'God', 'age' => -1 ];     // will encode to JSON object: {"name":"God","age":-1}       // accessed as example in JavaScript like: result.name or result['name'] (returns "God") }  header('Content-type: application/json'); echo json_encode( $data );