PHP

Understanding JSON Array vs JSON Object

See more JSON Examples

This example explains the difference between a JSON Array and a JSON Object. A JSON Array begins with "[" and ends with "]", whereas a JSON Object begins with "{" and ends with "}".

Elements contained in a JSON array are accessed by index, whereas elements in a JSON object are typically accessed by name (but can also be accessed by index).

Chilkat2 PHP

<?php

use Chilkat2\JsonArray;
use Chilkat2\JsonObject;

// A JSON array should be loaded into a Chilkat JSON array,
// whereas a JSON object should be loaded into a Chilkat JSON object.

// A JSON array may contain objects, and a JSON object may contains arrays, but
// it is the top-level (outermost) element that defines whether the JSON
// document is an array or an object.
// An array begins and ends with "[" ... "]"
// An object begins and ends with "{" ... "}"

// For example, an array containing 2 objects:
$strJsonArray = '[ { "name": "Bill" }, { "name": "Ted" } ]';

// Load it into a JSON array.
$jsonA = new JsonArray();
$jsonA->Load($strJsonArray);
echo 'number of array elements: ', $jsonA->Size, "\n";

// This is an object containing an array:
$strJsonObj = '{ "characters": [ "Bill", "Ted" ] }';

// Load it into a JSON object.
$jsonO = new JsonObject();
$jsonO->Load($strJsonObj);
echo 'number of object members: ', $jsonO->Size, "\n";