How to add spaces and new lines when using json_encode()?

Question

I've seen multiple answers in here but none of them had a solution to my question, so I made an account to ask this question. I understand now that \n is not an allowed character in json because the backslash is not allowed and that's why the problem is occurring.

I have the following code to encode an array in json:

<?php
$data = array('test1' => 'something1', 'test2' => 'something2', 'test3' => 'something3');
echo json_encode($data);

I'm trying to have the string outputted as follows:

{

"test1": "something1",

"test2": "something2",

"test3": "something3"

}

But what I'm getting is this:

{"test1":"something1","test2":"something2","test3":"something3"}

This is my go at it:

<?php
$data = array('test1' => 'something1\n', 'test2' => 'something2\n', 'test3' => 'something3\n');
echo json_encode($data);

but this returns

{"test1":"something1\n","test2":"something2\n","test3":"something3\n"}

@DanielW. You're 100% correct. I must have missed that question because it exactly solves my problem. How do I mark my question as duplicate? — , May 10 '19 at 09:30

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered May 10 '19 at 09:20

3

You can add a second parameter to json_encode. This is called the JSON_PRETTY_PRINT constant:

<?php
$data = array('test1' => 'something1', 'test2' => 'something2', 'test3' => 'something3');
echo json_encode($data, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);

answered May 10 '19 at 09:20

Daan

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Pretty elegant solution! Exactly what I'm looking for. Thanks! – May 10 '19 at 09:22

Rakesh Jakhar · Answer 2 · 2019-05-10T09:24:46.727

0

You can use JSON_PRETTY_PRINT with header

$data = array('test1' => 'something1', 'test2' => 'something2', 'test3' => 'something3');
header('Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8');
echo json_encode($data,JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);

OR

$json= json_encode($data,JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);
printf("<pre>%s</pre>", $json);

edited May 10 '19 at 09:24

answered May 10 '19 at 09:23

Rakesh Jakhar

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What does that `header` do? @Daan's answer was the same as yours but without the header – May 10 '19 at 09:24
@ILovePHP its telling that the data after this line header('Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8'); treated as json – Rakesh Jakhar May 10 '19 at 09:26
Is that necessary to do when having pure PHP? Or is it something that should be done when having HTML/JavaScript? – May 10 '19 at 09:28
@ILovePHP well daan solution is not working for me i am using PHP 7.1 – Rakesh Jakhar May 10 '19 at 09:28
@ILovePHP when you want to print the json in your desired format – Rakesh Jakhar May 10 '19 at 09:29
That's odd. It works fine for me when using the same PHP version as you do. – May 10 '19 at 09:29

helvete · Answer 3 · 2020-05-19T19:40:43.807

0

JSON is an interchange format, so you need not to be concerned about the looks very much.

Anyway, you can use flag constants to alter the encoding process

<?php

$a = '{"test1":"something1","test2":"something2","test3":"something3"}';
print_r(json_encode(json_decode($a, true), JSON_PRETTY_PRINT));

See live example: https://3v4l.org/CEc3L

edited May 19 '20 at 19:40

answered May 10 '19 at 09:24

helvete

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How to add spaces and new lines when using json_encode()?

3 Answers3