$response = '{"items":
[{"id":"1","food":"rice","Amount":"100","condition":"paid"},\
{"id":"2","food":"beans","Amount":"200","condition":"paid"},\
{"id":"3","food":"yam","Amount":"50","condition":"not paid"},\
{"id":"4","food":"tomatoes","Amount":"100","condition":"paid"},\
{"id":"5","food":"potato","Amount":"700","condition":"paid"}]}';
echo $response['items'][1]['food'];
Error: "Illegal string offset 'items'
Why can't I access the data?
You must decode a json string before using it as an object/array.
Your question shows you want to use it as an array, that means the second parameter of json_decode should be true.
However the \ makes your string invalid. Is that copy paste error or is that the actual string?
If it is the actual string then you may need to remove the \ before decoding.
I assume it's a copy paste error?
$response = '{"items":
[{"id":"1","food":"rice","Amount":"100","condition":"paid"},
{"id":"2","food":"beans","Amount":"200","condition":"paid"},
{"id":"3","food":"yam","Amount":"50","condition":"not paid"},
{"id":"4","food":"tomatoes","Amount":"100","condition":"paid"},
{"id":"5","food":"potato","Amount":"700","condition":"paid"}]}';
$arr = json_decode($response, true);
echo $arr['items'][1]['food']; // beans
If you need to remove the unwanted \ you can use stripslashes.
$arr = json_decode(stripslashes($response), true);
To replicate the error you get you need to do the following:
$response = '{"items":
[{"id":"1","food":"rice","Amount":"100","condition":"paid"},\
{"id":"2","food":"beans","Amount":"200","condition":"paid"},\
{"id":"3","food":"yam","Amount":"50","condition":"not paid"},\
{"id":"4","food":"tomatoes","Amount":"100","condition":"paid"},\
{"id":"5","food":"potato","Amount":"700","condition":"paid"}]}';
$arr = (string)json_decode($response, true); // json_decode returns NULL and the string cast makes it "NULL"
echo $arr['items'][1]['food']; // Warning: Illegal string offset 'items'
// or
echo $response['items'][1]['food']; // Warning: Illegal string offset 'items'
NULL. So when $response is NULL there is no [items] and that is why the parser says "Illegal string offset 'items'-> between the items$response = file_get_contents($URL); What does the $response contain? Make sure to var_dump to make sure there is no spaces or something that creates the errorTry this
$response = '{"items":
[{"id":"1","food":"rice","Amount":"100","condition":"paid"},
{"id":"2","food":"beans","Amount":"200","condition":"paid"},
{"id":"3","food":"yam","Amount":"50","condition":"not paid"},
{"id":"4","food":"tomatoes","Amount":"100","condition":"paid"},
{"id":"5","food":"potato","Amount":"700","condition":"paid"}]}';
$response_json = json_decode($response);
echo $response_json->items[2]->food.' | '.$response_json->items[2]->condition;
output : yam | not paid
decode your string into json using json_decode.
http://php.net/manual/en/function.json-decode.php refer this link for more infomation
You need to convert first json into array to using json_decode() function.
$response = '{"items":
[{"id":"1","food":"rice","Amount":"100","condition":"paid"},
{"id":"2","food":"beans","Amount":"200","condition":"paid"},
{"id":"3","food":"yam","Amount":"50","condition":"not paid"},
{"id":"4","food":"tomatoes","Amount":"100","condition":"paid"},
{"id":"5","food":"potato","Amount":"700","condition":"paid"}]}';
$getarray = json_decode($response);
echo $getarray->items[0]->food;
The data which you accessing it is in json format. So first you have to convert it into normal Array using json_decode();
Here is the code how.
$response = json_decode($response, true);
Now it is array. So can access its data like this way.
echo $response['items'][1]['food'];
Output :
beans
