What are best practices for handling JSON data in PHP?

When handling JSON data in PHP, it is important to properly encode and decode the data to ensure compatibility and prevent errors. The json_encode() function is used to convert PHP arrays into JSON format, while json_decode() is used to convert JSON data back into PHP arrays. It is also recommended to handle any potential errors that may occur during encoding or decoding.

// Example of encoding PHP array to JSON
$data = array("name" => "John", "age" => 30);
$json_data = json_encode($data);

// Example of decoding JSON data to PHP array
$json_string = '{"name": "Jane", "age": 25}';
$decoded_data = json_decode($json_string, true);

// Handling errors during JSON decoding
if ($decoded_data === null && json_last_error() !== JSON_ERROR_NONE) {
    throw new Exception("Error decoding JSON: " . json_last_error_msg());
}