How do I save utf-8 encoded json with PHP to a .txt file

Question

I am trying to save some data on the server but finding some encoding problems.

This is how I am sending my objects to PHP (which works fine but I don't think the contentType is actually doing anything):

$.post(
  'myfile.php',
   {
       contentType: "application/x-www-form-urlencoded;charset=utf-8",
       data : myData
   },
   function (data, textStatus, jqXHR){
      //some code here
   }
);

and then in PHP (myfile.php):

<?php
   header('Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8');

   $file = 'data/theData.txt'; //the file to edit
   $current = file_get_contents($file); // Open the file to get existing content
   $a2 = json_decode( $current, true );

   $data = $_POST['data']; //the data from the webpage

   $res = array_merge_recursive( $data, $a2 );

   $resJson = json_encode( $res );

   // Write the contents back to the file
   file_put_contents($file, $resJson);
?>

As you can see I am getting the original contents of the file and decoding the json. I am then merging the result with the data sent from the webpage before re-encoding in json and put the contents back.

This all works as expected. However, at one point in my Jquery the data sent contains a wide variety of symbols like "/ ö é ł Ż ę"

When the file is saved each '/' has an escape character '\' in front of it and likewise the 'é' for example is '\u00e9'

How do I override this? Should I try to convert it properly in the PHP or is their a way in the JQuery to convert back to the correct format after I have $.get('data/theData.txt'?

Any light shed on this issue is greatly appreciated! Please excuse the poor variable names.

possible duplicate of [Convert a JSON into a UTF-8 string](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4409039/convert-a-json-into-a-utf-8-string) — Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams, Apr 28 '12 at 13:48
use base64_encode() on the $_POST value and give it to us. This preserves the string binary safe for us, so we can tell you if its utf8 or not. — goat, Apr 28 '12 at 14:39
@Alix: Asker wants their JSON encoded as UTF-8, not ASCII with Unicode escapes. PHP doesn't do that. — Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams, Apr 28 '12 at 15:22
@chris Sorry, my PHP is very rusty. The $_POST['data'] value is an array so how should I base64 encode it? — Patrick, Apr 28 '12 at 16:23
I couldn't work out how to get echo to work because as soon as the script has run, it goes to a new page (I am using JQuery Mobile). I tried this but think its wrong. All I had was an empty text file $data = base64_encode($_POST['data']); file_put_contents($file, $data); — Patrick, Apr 28 '12 at 16:50
Hello Patrick, Chris asked you to do give him the output of the code he mentioned in his comment, not to save it into a file. — KBN, Apr 28 '12 at 17:07
Hi @xFortyFourx I was having problems using echo in the php script. It just runs the script and after there is a JQuery line to go to a new page. So I tried to write the output to a file, but it was just blank. Am I doing something stupid!? I took away the '$.mobile.changePage( "#page_thisPage", { transition: "slidedown"} );' jquery mobile line, but still nothing was echoed. — Patrick, Apr 28 '12 at 17:27
Hi Patrick, I hope this helps http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4839402/how-to-write-file-in-utf-8-format — KBN, Apr 28 '12 at 17:33

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 28 '12 at 23:13

The link provided by @chalet16 helped but if JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE doesn't work for you this does the job!

$myString = $json_encode($myObject); 
//After initially encoding to json there are escapes on all '/' and characters like ö é ł Ż ę

//First unescape slashes:
$myString = str_replace("\/","/",$myString);

//Then escape double quotes
$myString = str_replace('"','\\"',$myString);

//And Finally:
$myNewString = json_decode('"'.$myString.'"');

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 28 '12 at 17:48

0

If you are using PHP >=5.4.0, you can use JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE option in json_encode function. Please look at php.net: json_encode for more details.

For PHP < 5.4.0, there are some comments about how to do this in user contributed notes on the same page, but it is uncertain that it will work correctly or not.

answered Apr 28 '12 at 17:48

chalet16

197
2

Thanks @chalet16 That helped greatly. Sadly the JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE option didn't work for me but the other comments fixed it. – Patrick Apr 28 '12 at 19:33

How do I save utf-8 encoded json with PHP to a .txt file

2 Answers2