How to decode unicode-encoded JSON in PHP with Zend\Json\Json::decode(...)?

Question

I'm writing a client for an API...

use Zend\Http\Client;
use Zend\Http\Request;
use Zend\Json\Json;
...
$request = new Request();
$request->getHeaders()->addHeaders([
    'Accept-Charset' => 'UTF-8',
    'Accept' => 'application/hal+json',
    'Content-Type' => 'application/hal+json; charset=UTF-8',
]);
$apiAddress = 'http://my.project.tld/categories';
$request->setUri($apiAddress);
$request->setMethod('GET');
$client = new Client();
$response = $client->dispatch($request);
$data = $response->getContent();

... and get a unicode encoded JSON like this:

...{"id":"7","title":"\u0438\u043b\u043b\u044e\u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u0446\u0438\u0438","short_name":"\u0418\u041b\u041b\u042e\u0421\u0422\u0420\u0410\u0426\u0418\u0418"...

First I tried to decode it with json_decode(...). But I didn't find any appropriate method to do this in PHP (without suspect regex based approaches).

Now I'm trying it with Zend\Json\Json::decode(...) and getting following error:

/var/www/path/to/project/vendor/zendframework/zend-json/src/Json.php:243
Decoding failed: Syntax error

How to get a unicode-encoded JSON decoded with Zend\Json?

EDIT

Just notices, that the JSON is broken. It is separated to two parts. The string starts with 1f9e, then the first part, then the string \u043, then the second content part, then 0.

1f9e <-- What is it?
{"_li...
\u043 <-- What is it?
1a6...
tfoli <-- What is it?
0

I've also tested it with Postman. So, yes, I think, I can be sure, that it's valid. But encoded. — automatix, Jul 07 '17 at 18:47
Wait, maybe you are right. Just put the API call's output from Postman's "pretty" view to the `Json::decode(...)` -- works. Then I put the same output from the "raw" view. I expected it not to work. But actually it have worked as well. So, it really seems to be a problem with the JSON I get from `Zend\Http\Response#getContent()`. — automatix, Jul 07 '17 at 18:56

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 07 '17 at 19:15

1

Use Zend\Json\Decoder component of ZF2. It has a static method called Decoder::decodeUnicodeString() which decodes unicode characters.

Please have a look at the script here.

Hope this would help you!

answered Jul 07 '17 at 19:15

unclexo

3,691
2
18
26

Thank you for your answer! +1 But Actually the problem is in my case in the broken JSON. Please see [this question](https://stackoverflow.com/q/44978260/2019043) for more information. – automatix Jul 07 '17 at 19:24

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 07 '17 at 19:30

0

As soon as I see this json doesn't seem to be broken. Please consider the next code lines:

$data = '{"id":"7","title":"\u0438\u043b\u043b\u044e\u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u0446\u0438\u0438","short_name":"\u0418\u041b\u041b\u042e\u0421\u0422\u0420\u0410\u0426\u0418\u0418"}';

$json = json_decode($data);

header('Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8');
echo $json->title;
echo "<br/>";
echo $json->short_name;

the result is:

иллюстрации
ИЛЛЮСТРАЦИИ

answered Jul 07 '17 at 19:30

falinsky

7,229
3
32
56

Thank you for your answer, but please see the **EDIT** in my question and also [this question](https://stackoverflow.com/q/44978260/2019043), because -- you are right -- the JSON by itself is OK, but it comes with some additional symbols at the beginning and at the end. The JSON between these additional strings is actually valid. But all together gives an invalid JSON string. – automatix Jul 07 '17 at 19:40

How to decode unicode-encoded JSON in PHP with Zend\Json\Json::decode(...)?

2 Answers2