Iterate over JSON file using PHP

Question

I have a JSON file containing a list of universities around the world. I want to get only specific universities where a field in the array matches what I need to select. The problem I face is that each university has it's own ID number which makes me unable to figure out how to iterate over the Array. The JSON file can be found on this GitHub repo.

The code that makes me convert the JSON file to an array:

<?php
    $json = file_get_contents('universities_list.json');
    $universityArray = json_decode($json, true);

    print_r($universityArray);
?>

And a sample of what I get is:

[2942] => Array
        (
            [alpha_two_code] => EG
            [country] => Egypt
            [domain] => aast.edu
            [name] => Arab Academy for Science & Technology
            [web_page] => http://www.aast.edu/
        )

    [2943] => Array
        (
            [alpha_two_code] => EG
            [country] => Egypt
            [domain] => akhbaracademy.edu.eg
            [name] => Akhbar El Yom Academy
            [web_page] => http://www.akhbaracademy.edu.eg/
        )

What is the best or appropriate way to print out only the universities with alpha_two_code == 'EG' or == 'Egypt' for example?

I read the documentation on foreach loop and the examples as well. But still can't get the logic to get what I mentioned above.

http://php.net/manual/en/control-structures.foreach.php – AbraCadaver Aug 18 '17 at 16:23 — AbraCadaver, Aug 18 '17 at 16:23

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 18 '17 at 16:31

Check this return only a specific country

<?php
        $json = file_get_contents('university.json');
        $universityArray = json_decode($json, true);
        universities= array()
        for($i=0; $i< count($universityArray); $i++)
        {  
            if($universityArray[$i]["country"] == "Morocco")
             universitises[] = $universityArray[$i];
        }
        var_dump($universitises);

?>

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 18 '17 at 16:33

You can use alpha_two_code as index.

$indexed = [];
foreach($universityArray as $university){
    $index = $university['alpha_two_code'];
    if(!isset($indexed[$index])){
        $indexed[$index] = [];
    }
    $indexed[$index][] = $university;
}

Now you will have universities seperated by alpha_two_code which you can directly access.

print_r($indexed['EG']);

Now as per the best and appropriate part, you may want to cache $indexed. You can create a directory for universities and save JSON encoded $indexed there.

cmorrissey · Answer 3 · 2017-08-18T16:40:05.147

1

you can use the array_filter http://php.net/manual/en/function.array-filter.php function here with a callback. You can then use array_column http://php.net/manual/en/function.array-column.phpto grab just the 'name' column.

$json = file_get_contents('https://github.com/Hipo/university-domains-list/blob/master/world_universities_and_domains.json');
$universityArray = json_decode($json, true);

$filterBy = 'EG';

$newArray = array_filter($universityArray, function ($var) use ($filterBy) {
    return ($var['alpha_two_code'] == $filterBy);
});

print_r($newArray);

$names = array_column($newArray, 'name');

print_r($names);

edited Aug 18 '17 at 16:40

answered Aug 18 '17 at 16:27

cmorrissey

8,493
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How can I print only the names of universities? – Tes3awy Aug 18 '17 at 16:29
@Tes3awy I have updated my example for you – cmorrissey Aug 18 '17 at 16:41

catbadger · Accepted Answer · 2017-08-18T17:40:29.827

1

You need to read the manual.

Try this:

$names = array();
foreach($universityArray as $u) {
  if($u['alpha_two_code'] == 'EG' || $u['country'] == 'Egypt'){
    $names[] = $u['name'];
  }
}

print_r($names);

edited Aug 18 '17 at 17:40

answered Aug 18 '17 at 16:28

catbadger

1,662
2
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Your code prints only one university – Tes3awy Aug 18 '17 at 16:30
it's fixed now. try now. – catbadger Aug 18 '17 at 17:40

Iterate over JSON file using PHP

4 Answers4