PHP decode JSON POST

Question

I"m trying to receive POST data in the form of JSON. I'm curling it as:

curl -v --header 'content-type:application/json' -X POST --data '{"content":"test content","friends":[\"38383\",\"38282\",\"38389\"],"newFriends":0,"expires":"5-20-2013","region":"35-28"}' http://testserver.com/wg/create.php?action=post

On the PHP side my code is:

$data = json_decode(file_get_contents('php://input'));

    $content    = $data->{'content'};
    $friends    = $data->{'friends'};       // JSON array of FB IDs
    $newFriends = $data->{'newFriends'};
    $expires    = $data->{'expires'};
    $region     = $data->{'region'};

But even when I print_r ( $data) nothing gets returned to me. Is this the right way of processing a POST without a form?

@hohner when I try that, it gives me the error `json_decode() expects parameter 1 to be string, array given ` — Chris, Feb 16 '13 at 20:15
@Chris Debug in more detail. `var_dump` the POST content before decoding it. It just looks like invalid JSON to me. — deceze, Feb 16 '13 at 20:16
What happens if you set the content-type in the cURL command: `-H "Content-Type:application/json"`? — hohner, Feb 16 '13 at 20:17
@hohner Isn't that the same as `--header "content-type:aplication/json"` ? I'm already doing that — Chris, Feb 16 '13 at 20:19
What happens when you try this: http://stackoverflow.com/a/813510/427992 — hohner, Feb 16 '13 at 20:21
It baffles me that this was closed. It's a totally generic question - how to parse an HTTP POST string into JSON in PHP. Anyway a way that works for me is: $inputContents = json_decode($HTTP_RAW_POST_DATA, true); — Damon Smith, Jul 07 '14 at 03:34

score 29 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 02 '13 at 01:54

The JSON data you're submitting is not valid JSON.

When you use ' in your shell, it will not handle \" as you suspect.

curl -v --header 'content-type:application/json' -X POST --data '{"content":"test content","friends": ["38383","38282","38389"],"newFriends":0,"expires":"5-20-2013","region":"35-28"}'

Works as expected.

<?php
$foo = file_get_contents("php://input");

var_dump(json_decode($foo, true));
?>

Outputs:

array(5) {
  ["content"]=>
  string(12) "test content"
  ["friends"]=>
  array(3) {
    [0]=>
    string(5) "38383"
    [1]=>
    string(5) "38282"
    [2]=>
    string(5) "38389"
  }
  ["newFriends"]=>
  int(0)
  ["expires"]=>
  string(9) "5-20-2013"
  ["region"]=>
  string(5) "35-28"
}

PHP decode JSON POST

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