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
<?php
/**
* Formats a JSON string for pretty printing
*
* @param string $json The JSON to make pretty
* @param bool $html Insert nonbreaking spaces and <br />s for tabs and linebreaks
* @return string The prettified output
* @author Jay Roberts
*/
function _format_json($json, $html = false) {
$tabcount = 0;
$result = '';
$inquote = false;
$ignorenext = false;
if ($html) {
$tab = " ";
$newline = "<br/>";
} else {
$tab = "\t";
$newline = "\n";
}
for($i = 0; $i < strlen($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;
}