Are there any specific best practices to keep in mind when working with JSON data in PHP?

When working with JSON data in PHP, it is important to properly encode and decode the data to ensure compatibility and prevent errors. To encode data into JSON format, you can use the `json_encode()` function. To decode JSON data back into a PHP array or object, you can use the `json_decode()` function with the second parameter set to `true` to return an associative array.

// Encode data into JSON format
$data = array("name" => "John", "age" => 30);
$json_data = json_encode($data);

// Decode JSON data back into PHP array
$decoded_data = json_decode($json_data, true);

// Access decoded data
echo $decoded_data["name"]; // Output: John
echo $decoded_data["age"]; // Output: 30