What are the best practices for handling JSON data in PHP?

When working with 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 data structures into JSON format, while json_decode() is used to convert JSON data back into PHP data structures.

// Encode PHP array into JSON
$data = array("name" => "John", "age" => 30);
$json_data = json_encode($data);

// Decode JSON data into PHP array
$decoded_data = json_decode($json_data, true);

// Access decoded data
echo $decoded_data["name"]; // Output: John