In PHP, what are some best practices for handling and manipulating JSON data to extract specific values efficiently?

When handling and manipulating JSON data in PHP, it is best practice to decode the JSON string into an associative array using `json_decode()`. This allows for easy access to specific values within the JSON data. To extract specific values efficiently, you can navigate through the associative array using array notation or functions like `array_column()`.

// Sample JSON data
$jsonData = '{"name": "John Doe", "age": 30, "city": "New York"}';

// Decode JSON data into an associative array
$data = json_decode($jsonData, true);

// Extract specific values
$name = $data['name'];
$age = $data['age'];
$city = $data['city'];

echo "Name: $name, Age: $age, City: $city";