2

A JSON array has the form:

[[a,b,c],[a,b,c],[a,b,c]]

Is there a better way than split?

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3 Answers 3

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9

No, this is most certainly not the best way to parse JSON. JSON parsers exist for a reason. Use them.

In JavaScript, use JSON.parse:

var input = '[[1,2,3],[1,2,3],[1,2,3]]';
var arrayOfArrays = JSON.parse(input);

In PHP, use json_decode:

$input = '[[1,2,3],[1,2,3],[1,2,3]]';
$arrayOfArrays = json_decode($input);
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4 Comments

@stack.user.0—JASON.parse was introduced in ES5, there are still a good number of older browsers around that do not support it so you still need a JSON library to fill the gaps.
You might want to re-read the RFC (linked in my answer). From section 2: "A JSON text is a serialized object or array." And section 8 gives a clear example of a JSON array.
@jsumners thanks, I stand corrected. Always thought the top-level element had to be an object. Thank you for clearing that up for me! I feel like an idiot.
@MAt Thank you , I returned json array of arrays from code behind and at javascript i used JSON.parse for parsing array of arrays json object into a set of arrays
1

You do not need to use regular expressions. As has been mentioned, you must first have valid JSON to parse. Then it is a matter of using the tools already available to you.

So, given the valid JSON string [[1,2],[3,4]], we can write the following PHP:

$json = "[[1,2],[3,4]]";
$ar = json_decode($json);
print_r($ar);

Which results in:

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [0] => 1
            [1] => 2
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [0] => 3
            [1] => 4
        )

)

If you want to decode it in JavaScript, you have a couple options. First, if your environment is new enough (e.g. this list), then you can use the native JSON.parse function. If not, then you should use a library like json2.js to parse the JSON.

Assuming JSON.parse is available to you:

var inputJSON = "[[1,2],[3,4]]",
    parsedJSON = JSON.parse(inputJSON);

alert(parsedJSON[0][0]); // 1
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2 Comments

i believe json_decode($json); without the second parameter TRUE will return objects. see php.net/manual/en/function.json-decode.php
Uh, I wrote the PHP and ran it through the interpreter before posting. The second parameter set to true would turn {"foo":"bar"} into an associative array instead of an actual object. I didn't pass an object to the decoder. I passed an array.
0

In JavaScript , I think you can use Eval() →　eval() method...

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4 Comments

No, no no no no... JSON.parse.
Yes , I know that . I just said one way to implement it. Before Json.parse appeared , I always use it in my old project . :)
Well, there are better, safer ways of doing it now. Also, it's eval, not Eval (case matters).
@MДΓΓБДLL: I know it's a gap filler for deficient browsers, but at the heart of Douglas Crockford's json2.js JSON.parse method is an eval. github.com/douglascrockford/JSON-js/blob/master/json2.js