What are some best practices for using json_decode in PHP?

When using json_decode in PHP, it is important to handle errors that may occur during the decoding process. One common best practice is to check if the JSON string is valid before attempting to decode it. This can help prevent unexpected errors in your code. Additionally, using the second parameter of json_decode to set the return type can make your code more predictable and easier to work with. 

$jsonString = '{"key": "value"}';

// Check if the JSON string is valid
if (json_decode($jsonString) === null && json_last_error() !== JSON_ERROR_NONE) {
    throw new Exception('Invalid JSON string');
}

// Decode the JSON string and return an associative array
$data = json_decode($jsonString, true);

Keywords

json_decode PHP data validation error handling associative array

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