4

I'm struggling to retrieve data from an API using PHP.

My PHP code:

<?php
$curl = curl_init();
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_URL, "https://api.coronavirus.data.gov.uk/v1/data?filters=areaName=United%2520Kingdom;areaType=overview&structure={%22areaName%22:%22areaName%22,%22date%22:%22date%22,%22newCasesByPublishDate%22:%22newCasesByPublishDate%22,%22cumCasesByPublishDate%22:%22cumCasesByPublishDate%22}");

curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
$output = curl_exec($curl);
curl_close($curl);

echo $output;
?>

Sadly this just outputs a random list of characters like this:

��9|_��M�\�E�JЀ���"�H*p�Kx���,:VK�`>���m��a˒��܆�V^��gt�d�e]���������������f�ӷ�7�?_�\=�^Z)�b�j��߽�����������{����������tu�������7����+/J���~���������>������o>|�y�v�����s��Et{���i��L;�+>�Pq�F7��ĵQ�u�q9s��e��*͈f hkh�T����Ӵn�ճ�4�Dk�4��E��q��J����XUi�4-r��j�9UZB���s)�J9��a&�z�� �$�Ͳ��n &��4����� �a* ��UP�:Gz�4В:�Z�Pc�@KZsښJU'���mĔ3�@Kj�4KSU�@Kꜧ7�ڇ��ZR����ZUyݨ2I����`�֭�ӴQ�u-Y{JZX�i�%5*dwZ�;����4�Ű�FI�%A��3�������E�u��{@�e@TZm�uWidsVm� j�˱�`�V$��hrz�\���4�������Fǜ��%˩e�xQ��J-F�*�к�m��.��Q��y�m��2�4�+ݚJ��Ts�R�(!Ge�t���\��F�e���)� �kȤ�ZN4Tf��-���ςhَ&*���T�ɕ����ZA �R."��0�Y�#��Ԓ-��ֿ0�l#?թL�Uj��l,$�+md��t0�ȒLv�VM����f�$Abm�L#%)�hU�d�Sf�ݬ�vL�FǼ�k�VE�ܔ�%Y�/z�n��c�=UE&35��yd $3`�ʲ>jf��֬t�E��TvY��׬��(@"]�9%�u��4�'E���U�utQcК�}�T��*�浨0�J%T�Z� ��AkVr�kFj����iL ��0�+S��Y�H9�>u���S�O�S�I0��|�95-���g���Q +1d(HHԮ�Y�M=���IM�i8���T�PA��Ta�Ԇ��O���$*%�2����o�aU<��h��RR�2�.�@��cf�aT�8��JkF �!�O#y&����h$˔ #׎���yς�&è� ��|DO�;Z��$X3U��2yX�b��e��0��Ȩ�4���ZT<�iCK�D�t�i��D���m���Pa� k!����D3&^��������e֔i�2:��s�4�j��*��]z�3�G�tT�g<.�&7����V����^yY٦N$9�%���TF�a?ÿ�T׍��Q���e��6�w2�~L��m� �C�E��@wԏV^�7l5�uk�DPixZ\˅Ny��6�'���"�d�ͭ�5lj��}�J��88��Z�J���S�Ir5V��g�M��#[cx�5�}M�:��k{Suo� \7˔i�%��[�=BUe�U�p���%U��V]@[my�Z��.�V�*���z�4����݇�]�R^&�V�� o� �ɜ&^stS^(&���ʁv�W�p}l�\T)��]�@;�f *��S�U�YD�������\%��ft��*�(���ZO�z���@G�͐6L9*O�W�-[Qu�S������L��n��݊��B�sJ���M�Q����>�+ �F�)9�|��f7?�D�ó�%��Ҁ�������al6m�c#GUDŽ(�pyl䨖Z��cVS�q�O�t�PV��1I�j��%Ŭ��F���(�*�)�7�h%�*�U��\����VA�ڠ�~Fл��{k����Rh�b{���i�nv��M� |Ƙhf-TZ����{���&6�z��uW��UC��&�7kC�����D�n��T3�i�.�'��6��w1���,M��B{7e�r@M��81��м�Tc���]TiDR�G�Y K5���`���d��9�G�%����=�r(Й �W���Zx���q�@�^�P���b Oi�S1� &���sB@��sF#G�oB�M(e U�_�26��M(� %6��M(�99�Y�?T�mB)爲J�']N3*��W���7��93&S��}W)mJ݄�P��O1l=����U]�>]_� �[��V��(��V���n�@�h+e�����R�Jl+e�����R�Jl+e�����R���2����l�e+e([)C�J��������7W��ǫ����w������_��}u�������������ot�����������������˻����W��?<�?}��t�|ֿ~����_��_/��}����_��>~۩ώ?����S�=��<}w��������5-��_��_fk��������ç�����m��3W��ߦ���x����⶷nx

Putting the url directly into a browser works fine, giving a nice JSON, see see here.

I'm really scratching my head to know where to go from here to get this to parse properly in PHP.

Can anyone help, I'm completely out of my depth here.

dobox
  • 51
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  • have you tried adding curl_setopt($curl,CURLOPT_ENCODING , ""); ? https://myprogrammingnotes.com/uncompress-gzip-encoded-content-php.html – Leszek P Oct 06 '20 at 11:46

3 Answers3

1

Excellent....thank you soooo much !!!!!, you have just solved a problem I have been trying to sort out on-and-off for some time.

dobox
  • 51
  • 2
0

The retrieved data is encoded, to enable decoding, add this line.

curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_ENCODING, '');

This enables the decoding of the retrieved data, by using and empty string as parameter, it enables all encoding types.

With the line added, your code will look like this.

$curl = curl_init();
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_URL, "https://api.coronavirus.data.gov.uk/v1/data?filters=areaName=United%2520Kingdom;areaType=overview&structure={%22areaName%22:%22areaName%22,%22date%22:%22date%22,%22newCasesByPublishDate%22:%22newCasesByPublishDate%22,%22cumCasesByPublishDate%22:%22cumCasesByPublishDate%22}");

curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_ENCODING, ''); // <--- ADDED LINE!
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
$output = curl_exec($curl);
curl_close($curl);

echo $output;
PeterSH
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0

you need just encoding, this is working code:

<?php
$curl = curl_init();
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_URL, "https://api.coronavirus.data.gov.uk/v1/data? 
filters=areaName=United%2520Kingdom;areaType=overview&structure{%22areaName%22:%22areaName%22,%22date%22:%22date%22,%22newCasesByPublishDate%22:%22newCasesByPublishDate%22,%22cumCasesByPublishDate%22:%22cumCasesByPublishDate%22}");

curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_ENCODING, '');

curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
$output = curl_exec($curl);
curl_close($curl);

echo $output;
?>
Asad
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