How can PHP developers effectively convert values from database columns into arrays using json_decode()?

When retrieving values from database columns in PHP, they are often returned as JSON-encoded strings. To convert these JSON strings into arrays, developers can use the json_decode() function. This function will take the JSON string as input and return an array that can be easily manipulated and accessed.

// Example of converting JSON-encoded database column values into arrays using json_decode()

// Retrieve JSON-encoded string from the database
$jsonString = $row['column_name'];

// Decode the JSON string into an array
$array = json_decode($jsonString, true);

// Now $array contains the values from the database column as an array