In what scenarios is it more common to return data via JSON in PHP applications with Ajax requests for client-side rendering?

When building PHP applications that use Ajax requests for client-side rendering, it is more common to return data via JSON in scenarios where you need to send structured data back to the client. JSON is lightweight and easy to parse in JavaScript, making it ideal for transferring data between the server and client. This approach is especially useful when you need to update parts of a webpage dynamically without refreshing the entire page.

<?php
// Sample PHP code to return data via JSON in response to an Ajax request

// Simulate fetching data from a database
$data = array(
    'name' => 'John Doe',
    'age' => 30,
    'city' => 'New York'
);

// Set the content type header to application/json
header('Content-Type: application/json');

// Return the data as JSON
echo json_encode($data);