What best practices should PHP developers follow when outputting JSON data to ensure proper display in different contexts?

When outputting JSON data in PHP, developers should ensure that the data is properly encoded using the `json_encode` function to handle special characters and prevent syntax errors. Additionally, setting the appropriate `Content-Type` header to `application/json` will help browsers and other clients interpret the response correctly. Finally, developers should consider using `json_encode` options like `JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE` to preserve Unicode characters in the output. 

// Sample PHP code snippet to output JSON data with proper encoding and headers
$data = ['name' => 'John Doe', 'age' => 30, 'city' => 'New York'];
$json = json_encode($data, JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE);

header('Content-Type: application/json');
echo $json;

Keywords

JSON PHP encoding data validation context-awareness

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