Pretty-Printing JSON with PHP

Question

I m building a PHP script that feeds JSON data to another script  My script builds data into a large associative array  and then outputs the data using json encode  Here is an example script    data   array  a    gt   apple    b    gt   banana    c    gt   catnip    header  Content-type  text javascript    echo json encode  data     The above code yields the following output     a   apple   b   banana   c   catnip     This is great if you have a small amount of data  but I d prefer something along these lines           a    apple        b    banana        c    catnip      Is there a way to do this in PHP without an ugly hack  It seems like someone at Facebook figured it out

User · Accepted Answer

PHP 5 4 offers the JSON PRETTY PRINT option for use with the json encode   call   http   php net manual en function json-encode php   lt  php      json string   json encode  data  JSON PRETTY PRINT

User · Answer

If you have existing JSON   ugly json   echo nl2br str replace        amp nbsp     json encode json decode  ugly json   JSON PRETTY PRINT   JSON UNESCAPED SLASHES

User · Answer

This solution makes  really pretty  JSON   Not exactly what the OP was asking for  but it lets you visualise the JSON better          takes an object parameter and returns the pretty json format     this is a space saving version that uses 2 spaces instead of the regular 4        param  in        return string     function pretty json   in   string     return preg replace callback       m       function  array  matches   string             return str repeat      strlen  matches 0     2          json encode  in  JSON PRETTY PRINT   JSON HEX APOS                 takes a JSON string an adds colours to the keys values    if the string is not JSON then it is returned unaltered         param string  in        return string      function markup json  string  in   string      string     green      number     darkorange      null       magenta      key        red      pattern            u a-zA-Z0-9  4        u               s      b true false null  b -  d       d       eE    -   d          return preg replace callback  pattern        function  array  matches  use   string   number   null   key   string                  match     matches 0            colour    number          if  preg match          match                        colour   preg match          match                 key                string                    elseif   match      null                        colour    null                    return   lt span style  color   colour   gt   match  lt  span gt             str replace    lt      gt      amp        amp lt      amp gt      amp amp      in           in     public function test pretty json object         ob         new  stdClass       ob- gt test    unit-tester      json       pretty json  ob      expected    lt  lt  lt JSON      test    unit-tester    JSON     this- gt assertEquals  expected   json      public function test pretty json str         ob      unit-tester      json   pretty json  ob      this- gt assertEquals     ob      json      public function test markup json         json    lt  lt  lt JSON    name   abc   id  123  warnings      errors  null    name   abc    JSON     expected    lt  lt  lt STR            lt span style  color red  gt  name   lt  span gt   lt span style  color green  gt  abc  lt  span gt        lt span style  color red  gt  id   lt  span gt   lt span style  color darkorange  gt 123 lt  span gt        lt span style  color red  gt  warnings   lt  span gt           lt span style  color red  gt  errors   lt  span gt   lt span style  color magenta  gt null lt  span gt                lt span style  color red  gt  name   lt  span gt   lt span style  color green  gt  abc  lt  span gt        STR      output   markup json pretty json json decode  json        this- gt assertEquals  expected  output

User · Answer

For those running PHP version 5 3 or before  you may try below    pretty json     lt pre gt   print r json decode  json   true    lt  pre gt     echo  pretty json

User · Answer

Classic case for a recursive solution   Here s mine   class JsonFormatter       public static function prettyPrint  amp  j   indentor     t    indent                  inString    escaped   false           result    indent           if is string  j                  bak    j               j   str split trim  j                            while count  j                  c   array shift  j               if false     strpos           c                     if  inString                         result     c                    else if  c            c                                result     c   n                        result    self  prettyPrint  j   indentor   indentor  indent                        result     indent array shift  j                     else if  c            c                               array unshift  j   c                        result      n                       return  result                    else                        result     c   n   indent                                   else                    result     c                   c         amp  amp    escaped  amp  amp   inString     inString                   escaped    c             escaped   false                                    j    bak          return  result            Usage   php  gt  require  JsonFormatter php   php  gt   a   array  foo    gt  1   bar    gt   This  is  bar    baz    gt  array  a    gt  1   b    gt  2   c    gt    3      php  gt  print r  a   Array        foo    gt  1      bar    gt  This  is  bar      baz    gt  Array                        a    gt  1              b    gt  2              c    gt   3               php  gt  echo JsonFormatter  prettyPrint json encode  a           foo  1       bar   This   is   bar        baz             a  1           b  2           c     3              Cheers

User · Answer

1 - json encode  rows JSON PRETTY PRINT   returns prettified data with newline characters  This is helpful for command line input  but as you ve discovered doesn t look as pretty within the browser  The browser will accept the newlines as the source  and thus  viewing the page source will indeed show the pretty JSON   but they aren t used to format the output in browsers  Browsers require HTML   2 - use this fuction github   lt  php                Formats a JSON string for pretty printing                param string  json The JSON to make pretty         param bool  html Insert nonbreaking spaces and  lt br   gt s for tabs and linebreaks         return string The prettified output         author Jay Roberts             function  format json  json   html   false             tabcount   0           result                inquote   false           ignorenext   false          if   html                 tab     amp nbsp  amp nbsp  amp nbsp  amp nbsp                 newline     lt br  gt              else                tab     t                newline     n                     for  i   0   i  lt  strlen  json    i                   char    json  i               if   ignorenext                     result     char                   ignorenext   false                else                   switch  char                        case                          case                               tabcount                             result     char    newline   str repeat  tab   tabcount                           break                      case                          case                               tabcount--                           result   trim  result     newline   str repeat  tab   tabcount     char                          break                      case                               result     char    newline   str repeat  tab   tabcount                           break                      case                               inquote     inquote                           result     char                          break                      case                               if   inquote   ignorenext   true                           result     char                          break                      default                           result     char                                                    return  result

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If you are working with MVC  try doing this in your controller  public function getLatestUsers         header  Content-Type  application json        echo  this- gt model- gt getLatestUsers       this returns json encode  somedata  JSON PRETTY PRINT      then if you call  getLatestUsers you will get a pretty JSON output

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Gluing several answers together fit my need for existing json   Code  echo   lt pre gt     echo json encode json decode  json response   JSON PRETTY PRINT    echo   lt  pre gt     Output         data              token type    bearer            expires in   3628799           scopes    full access            created at   1540504324             errors            pagination            token type    bearer        expires in   3628799       scopes    full access        created at   1540504324

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If you used only  json string   json encode  data  JSON PRETTY PRINT    you will get in the browser something like this  using the Facebook link from the question         but if you used a chrome Extension like JSONView  even without the PHP option above   then you get a more pretty readable debuggable solution where you can even Fold Collapse each single JSON object easily like this

User · Answer

here s the function i use myself  the api is just like json encode  except it has a 3rd argument exclude flags in case you want to exclude some of the default flags  like JSON UNESCAPED SLASHES  function json encode pretty  data  int  extra flags   0  int  exclude flags   0   string          prettiest flags for  7 3 9      flags   JSON PRETTY PRINT   JSON UNESCAPED SLASHES   JSON UNESCAPED UNICODE    defined  quot JSON UNESCAPED LINE TERMINATORS quot     JSON UNESCAPED LINE TERMINATORS   0    JSON PRESERVE ZERO FRACTION    defined  quot JSON THROW ON ERROR quot     JSON THROW ON ERROR   0        flags     flags    extra flags   amp     exclude flags      return  json encode  data   flags

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print r pretty print for PHP  Example PHP  function print nice  elem  max level 10  print nice stack array         if is array  elem     is object  elem            if in array  elem  print nice stack true                echo   lt font color red gt RECURSION lt  font gt                return                     print nice stack    amp  elem          if  max level lt 1               echo   lt font color red gt nivel maximo alcanzado lt  font gt                return                     max level--          echo   lt table border 1 cellspacing 0 cellpadding 3 width 100  gt            if is array  elem                echo   lt tr gt  lt td colspan 2 style  background-color  333333   gt  lt strong gt  lt font color white gt ARRAY lt  font gt  lt  strong gt  lt  td gt  lt  tr gt             else              echo   lt tr gt  lt td colspan 2 style  background-color  333333   gt  lt strong gt                echo   lt font color white gt OBJECT Type    get class  elem    lt  font gt  lt  strong gt  lt  td gt  lt  tr gt                       color 0          foreach  elem as  k   gt   v               if  max level 2                    rgb   color   2    888888    BBBBBB                else                   rgb   color   2    8888BB    BBBBFF                             echo   lt tr gt  lt td valign  top  style  width 40px background-color    rgb     gt                echo   lt strong gt    k   lt  strong gt  lt  td gt  lt td gt                print nice  v  max level  print nice stack               echo   lt  td gt  lt  tr gt                      echo   lt  table gt            return            if  elem     null           echo   lt font color green gt NULL lt  font gt         elseif  elem     0           echo  0        elseif  elem     true           echo   lt font color green gt TRUE lt  font gt         elseif  elem     false           echo   lt font color green gt FALSE lt  font gt         elseif  elem                  echo   lt font color green gt EMPTY STRING lt  font gt         else          echo str replace   n    lt strong gt  lt font color red gt   lt  font gt  lt  strong gt  lt br gt  n   elem

User · Answer

You can modify Kendall Hopkins  answer a little in the switch statement to get a pretty clean looking and nicely indented printout by passing a json string into the following   function prettyPrint   json      result        level   0   in quotes   false   in escape   false   ends line level   NULL   json length   strlen   json     for   i   0   i  lt   json length   i            char    json  i        new line level   NULL       post           if   ends line level     NULL              new line level    ends line level           ends line level   NULL            if    in escape              in escape   false        else if   char                      in quotes     in quotes        else if     in quotes             switch   char                 case      case                       level--                   ends line level   NULL                   new line level    level                   char    lt br gt                    for  index 0  index lt  level-1  index     char   -----                    break               case      case                       level                     char    lt br gt                    for  index 0  index lt  level  index     char   -----                    break              case                       ends line level    level                   char    lt br gt                    for  index 0  index lt  level  index     char   -----                    break               case                       post                        break               case   t   case   n   case   r                    char                        ends line level    new line level                   new line level   NULL                  break                  else if    char                       in escape   true            if   new line level     NULL              result      n  str repeat    t    new line level               result     char  post     echo  RESULTS ARE   lt br gt  lt br gt  result   return  result       Now just run the function prettyPrint   your json string    inline in your php and enjoy the printout  If you re a minimalist and don t like brackets for some reason  you can get rid of those easily by replacing the  char    lt br gt    with  char   lt br gt    in the top three switch cases on  char  Here s what you get for a google maps API call for the city of Calgary  RESULTS ARE      - - -  results      - - -- - -   - - -- - -- - -  address components      - - -- - -- - -- - -   - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  long name     Calgary  - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  short name     Calgary  - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  types      - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  locality  - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  political    - - -- - -- - -- - -   - - -- - -- - - - - -- - -- - -- - -   - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  long name     Division No  6  - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  short name     Division No  6  - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  types      - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  administrative area level 2  - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  political    - - -- - -- - -- - -   - - -- - -- - - - - -- - -- - -- - -   - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  long name     Alberta  - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  short name     AB  - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  types      - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  administrative area level 1  - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  political    - - -- - -- - -- - -   - - -- - -- - - - - -- - -- - -- - -   - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  long name     Canada  - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  short name     CA  - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  types      - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  country  - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  political    - - -- - -- - -- - -   - - -- - -- - -   - - -- - - - - -- - -- - -  formatted address     Calgary  AB  Canada  - - -- - -- - -  geometry      - - -- - -- - -- - -  bounds      - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  northeast      - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  lat    51 18383 - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  lng    -113 8769511   - - -- - -- - -- - - - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  southwest      - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  lat    50 84240399999999 - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  lng    -114 27136   - - -- - -- - -- - -   - - -- - -- - - - - -- - -- - -- - -  location      - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  lat    51 0486151 - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  lng    -114 0708459   - - -- - -- - - - - -- - -- - -- - -  location type     APPROXIMATE  - - -- - -- - -- - -  viewport      - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  northeast      - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  lat    51 18383 - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  lng    -113 8769511   - - -- - -- - -- - - - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  southwest      - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  lat    50 84240399999999 - - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -  lng    -114 27136   - - -- - -- - -- - -   - - -- - -- - -   - - -- - - - - -- - -- - -  place id     ChIJ1T-EnwNwcVMROrZStrE7bSY  - - -- - -- - -  types      - - -- - -- - -- - -  locality  - - -- - -- - -- - -  political    - - -- - -   - - -    - - -  status     OK

User · Answer

You could do it like below    array   array      a    gt   apple       b    gt   banana       c    gt   catnip      foreach   array as  a key   gt   a val        json         a key          a val     n      header  Content-Type  application json    echo    n    rtrim  json     n       n      Above would output kind of like Facebook      a     apple    b     banana    c     catnip

User · Answer

I have used this   echo   lt pre gt   json encode  response  JSON PRETTY PRINT   JSON UNESCAPED UNICODE   JSON UNESCAPED SLASHES    lt  pre gt      Or use php headers as below   header  Content-type  application json  charset UTF-8    echo json encode  response  JSON PRETTY PRINT   JSON UNESCAPED UNICODE   JSON UNESCAPED SLASHES

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Have color full output  Tiny Solution  Code    s      access     token     issued at    2008-08-16T14 10 31 309353    expires    2008-08-17T14 10 31Z    id    MIICQgYJKoZIhvcIegeyJpc3N1ZWRfYXQiOiAi     serviceCatalog        user     username    ajay    roles links        id    16452ca89    roles        name    ajay         crl   0   ss   false  echo   lt pre gt    for  c 0   c lt strlen  s    c          if    s  c             s  c                          crl--          echo   n           echo str repeat        crl 2              if    s  c          amp  amp    s  c-1             s  c-2                          echo   n           echo str repeat        crl 2              if    s  c          amp  amp    ss                 if    s  c-1             s  c-2                       echo   lt span style  color  0000ff   gt            else             echo   lt span style  color  ff0000   gt              echo  s  c       if    s  c          amp  amp   ss           echo   lt  span gt        if    s  c                      ss     ss      if    s  c             s  c                          crl            echo   n           echo str repeat        crl 2            echo  s  c

User · Answer

Simple way for php 5 4  like in Facebook graph   Data   array  a    gt   apple    b    gt   banana    c    gt   catnip     json  json encode  Data  JSON PRETTY PRINT   header  Content-Type  application json    print r  json     Result in browser          a    apple        b    banana        c    catnip

User · Answer

best way to format JSON data is like this   header  Content-type  application json  charset UTF-8    echo json encode  response  JSON PRETTY PRINT   JSON UNESCAPED UNICODE   JSON UNESCAPED SLASHES     Replace  response with your Data which is required to be converted to JSON

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Use  lt pre gt  in combination with json encode   and the JSON PRETTY PRINT option    lt pre gt       lt  php     echo json encode  dataArray  JSON PRETTY PRINT         gt   lt  pre gt

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If you are on firefox install JSONovich  Not really a PHP solution I know  but it does the trick for development purposes debugging

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I realize this question is asking about how to encode an associative array to a pretty-formatted JSON string  so this doesn t directly answer the question  but if you have a string that is already in JSON format  you can make it pretty simply by decoding and re-encoding it  requires PHP    5 4     json   json encode json decode  json   JSON PRETTY PRINT     Example   header  Content-Type  application json     json ugly      a  1  b  2  c  3  d  4  e  5     json pretty   json encode json decode  json ugly   JSON PRETTY PRINT   echo  json pretty    This outputs          a   1       b   2       c   3       d   4       e   5

User · Answer

The following is what worked for me   Contents of test php    lt html gt   lt body gt  Testing JSON array output    lt pre gt     lt  php    data   array  a   gt  apple    b   gt  banana    c   gt  catnip         encode in json format     data   json encode  data         json as single line   echo   lt  br gt Json as single line  lt  br gt      echo  data       json as an array  formatted nicely   echo   lt  br gt Json as multiline array  lt  br gt      print r json decode  data  true        gt     lt  pre gt   lt  body gt   lt  html gt    output   Testing JSON array output   Json as single line    a   apple   b   banana   c   catnip   Json as multiline array  Array        a    gt  apple      b    gt  banana      c    gt  catnip     Also note the use of  pre  tag in html   Hope that helps someone

User · Answer

I had the same issue   Anyway I just used the json formatting code here   http   recursive-design com blog 2008 03 11 format-json-with-php   Works well for what I needed it for    And a more maintained version  https   github com GerHobbelt nicejson-php

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Many users suggested that you use  echo json encode  results  JSON PRETTY PRINT     Which is absolutely right  But it s not enough  the browser needs to understand the type of data  you can specify the header just before echo-ing the data back to the user   header  Content-Type  application json      This will result in a well formatted output   Or  if you like extensions you can use JSONView for Chrome

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I took the code from Composer   https   github com composer composer blob master src Composer Json JsonFile php and nicejson   https   github com GerHobbelt nicejson-php blob master nicejson php Composer code is good because it updates fluently from 5 3 to 5 4 but it only encodes object whereas nicejson takes json strings  so i merged them  The code can be used to format json string and or encode objects  i m currently using it in a Drupal module   if   defined  JSON UNESCAPED SLASHES        define  JSON UNESCAPED SLASHES   64   if   defined  JSON PRETTY PRINT        define  JSON PRETTY PRINT   128   if   defined  JSON UNESCAPED UNICODE        define  JSON UNESCAPED UNICODE   256    function  json encode  data   options   448        if  version compare PHP VERSION   5 4     gt                    return json encode  data   options              return  json format json encode  data    options      function  pretty print json  json        return  json format  json  JSON PRETTY PRINT      function  json format  json   options   448         prettyPrint    bool    options  amp  JSON PRETTY PRINT        unescapeUnicode    bool    options  amp  JSON UNESCAPED UNICODE        unescapeSlashes    bool    options  amp  JSON UNESCAPED SLASHES        if    prettyPrint  amp  amp    unescapeUnicode  amp  amp    unescapeSlashes                return  json              result            pos   0       strLen   strlen  json        indentStr             newLine     n        outOfQuotes   true       buffer            noescape   true       for   i   0   i  lt   strLen   i                     Grab the next character in the string          char   substr  json   i  1               Are we inside a quoted string          if           char  amp  amp   noescape                         outOfQuotes     outOfQuotes                     if    outOfQuotes                         buffer     char               noescape             char     noescape   true              continue                    elseif          buffer                        if   unescapeSlashes                                 buffer   str replace              buffer                              if   unescapeUnicode  amp  amp  function exists  mb convert encoding                                     http   stackoverflow com questions 2934563 how-to-decode-unicode-escape-sequences-like-u00ed-to-proper-utf-8-encoded-cha                  buffer   preg replace callback       u  0-9a-f  4   i                       function   match                                                return mb convert encoding pack  H     match 1     UTF-8    UCS-2BE                            buffer                                result     buffer    char               buffer                   continue                    elseif false     strpos    t r n    char                         continue                     if           char                           Add a space after the   character              char                           elseif            char             char                          pos--               prevChar   substr  json   i - 1  1                if           prevChar  amp  amp           prevChar                                   If this character is the end of an element                     output a new line and indent the next line                  result     newLine                  for   j   0   j  lt   pos   j                                           result     indentStr                                              else                                  Collapse empty    and                     result   rtrim  result      n n     indentStr                                    result     char              If the last character was the beginning of an element             output a new line and indent the next line         if           char             char             char                         result     newLine               if           char             char                                 pos                               for   j   0   j  lt   pos   j                                   result     indentStr                                       If buffer not empty after formating we have an unclosed quote     if  strlen  buffer   gt  0                  json is incorrectly formatted          result   false             return  result

User · Answer

This function will take JSON string and indent it very readable  It also should be convergent    prettyPrint   json       prettyPrint  prettyPrint   json       Input    key1   1 2 3   key2   value     Output         key1             1          2          3             key2    value      Code  function prettyPrint   json          result            level   0       in quotes   false       in escape   false       ends line level   NULL       json length   strlen   json         for   i   0   i  lt   json length   i                char    json  i            new line level   NULL           post               if   ends line level     NULL                  new line level    ends line level               ends line level   NULL                    if    in escape                  in escape   false            else if   char                          in quotes     in quotes            else if     in quotes                 switch   char                     case      case                           level--                       ends line level   NULL                       new line level    level                      break                   case      case                           level                    case                           ends line level    level                      break                   case                           post                            break                   case      case   t   case   n   case   r                        char                            ends line level    new line level                       new line level   NULL                      break                          else if    char                           in escape   true                    if   new line level     NULL                  result      n  str repeat    t    new line level                       result     char  post             return  result

[php] Pretty-Printing JSON with PHP

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