json file to php array. using json_decode gives null

Question

I have the php file

<?php
$str = '{
    "champions": [{
        "id": 24,
        "stats": {
            "armor": 27.04,
            "attackrange": 125.0,
        }
    }, {
        "id": 37,
        "stats": {
            "armor": 20.544,
            "attackrange": 550.0,

        }
    }],
    "matches": [{
        "timestamp": 1433644800,
        "champion": 427,
        "lane": "TOP"
    }, {"timestamp": 1453702800,
        "champion": 103,
        "lane": "MIDDLE"
    }]
}';

  $array = json_decode($str,true);// read string to array (true means array, false means object)
  var_dump($array);
  $champions = $array["champions"];
  var_dump($champions);

which outputs null for both var_dumps. What is my mistake? Thanks. Is it maybe a problem that there are square brakets in the json snippet?

If json is not properly formated, it will break. In your case, you have commas after last element of arrays. You can check [JSON syntax](http://www.w3schools.com/js/js_json_syntax.asp) for more examples. — Bojan Radaković, Feb 01 '17 at 11:50
Possible duplicate of [json\_decode() returns null issues](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3110487/json-decode-returns-null-issues) — Akshay Hegde, Feb 01 '17 at 12:12

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 01 '17 at 11:41

1

You have errors in your JSON.

Remove , in the end of [champions][stats] arrays.

answered Feb 01 '17 at 11:41

J Price

56
6

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 01 '17 at 11:42

please remove comma separation from every last element of champions->stats like below then do decode

{
    "champions": [
        {
            "id": 24,
            "stats": {
                "armor": 27.04,
                "attackrange": 125
            }
        },
        {
            "id": 37,
            "stats": {
                "armor": 20.544,
                "attackrange": 550
            }
        }
    ],
    "matches": [
        {
            "timestamp": 1433644800,
            "champion": 427,
            "lane": "TOP"
        },
        {
            "timestamp": 1453702800,
            "champion": 103,
            "lane": "MIDDLE"
        }
    ]
}

json file to php array. using json_decode gives null

2 Answers2