Cannot access element in array converted from stdClass created by json_decode

Question

$arr = array();
$arr[0] = "2a123";
$arr[1] = "2123";
$arr["other_option"] = "2123";

var_dump($arr);

$arr = json_encode($arr);

$arr = (array)json_decode($arr);

var_dump($arr);

var_dump( $arr[1]);
var_dump( $arr["1"]);

The output of 2 last var_dump are NULL NULL, if we remove the 4th line $arr["other_option"] = "2123"; it'll ouput correctly, but I don't understand why!

TIP : try `json_decode($json, true)` instead of type casting using `(array)` — xkeshav, Aug 10 '12 at 09:27
The TIP of diEcho works like a charm, but I still don't understand why, is it a PHP bug in type casting? — Hieu Vo, Aug 10 '12 at 09:32

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 10 '12 at 09:31

instead of type casting to array , set true in json_encode

When TRUE, returned objects will be converted into associative arrays.

$arr = array();
$arr[0] = "2a123";
$arr[1] = "2123";
$arr["other_option"] = "2123";
$arr = json_encode($arr);   
$arr = json_decode($arr,true);
var_dump( $arr['other_option']); // return 2123

working DEMO

Cannot access element in array converted from stdClass created by json_decode

1 Answers1