What best practices can be applied when handling multidimensional arrays in PHP, especially when working with JSON files, as discussed in the provided code example?

When working with multidimensional arrays in PHP, especially when handling JSON files, it is important to properly encode and decode the data to ensure correct representation. This can be achieved by using the json_encode() function to encode the multidimensional array into a JSON string before saving it to a file, and then using json_decode() function to decode the JSON string back into a PHP array when reading from the file. Additionally, it is recommended to use error handling techniques to catch any potential issues during the encoding and decoding process.

// Encode multidimensional array into JSON string and save to file
$data = [
    'key1' => 'value1',
    'key2' => [
        'subkey1' => 'subvalue1',
        'subkey2' => 'subvalue2'
    ]
];

$jsonData = json_encode($data);
file_put_contents('data.json', $jsonData);

// Decode JSON string from file back into PHP array
$jsonData = file_get_contents('data.json');
$data = json_decode($jsonData, true);

// Check for errors during encoding and decoding
if (json_last_error() !== JSON_ERROR_NONE) {
    echo 'Error encoding/decoding JSON: ' . json_last_error_msg();
}