note 86181 added to function.json-decode

json_decode()'s handling of invalid JSON is very flaky, and it is very hard to reliably determine if the decoding succeeded or not. Observe the following examples, none of which contain valid JSON: The following each returns NULL, as you might expect: var_dump(json_decode('[')); // unmatched bracket var_dump(json_decode('{')); // unmatched brace var_dump(json_decode('{}}')); // unmatched brace var_dump(json_decode('{error error}')); // invalid object key/value notation var_dump(json_decode('["\"]')); // unclosed string var_dump(json_decode('[" \x "]')); // invalid escape code Yet the following each returns the literal string you passed to it: var_dump(json_decode(' [')); // unmatched bracket var_dump(json_decode(' {')); // unmatched brace var_dump(json_decode(' {}}')); // unmatched brace var_dump(json_decode(' {error error}')); // invalid object key/value notation var_dump(json_decode('"\"')); // unclosed string var_dump(json_decode('" \x "')); // invalid escape code (this is on PHP 5.2.6) Reported as a bug, but oddly enough, it was closed as not a bug: http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=45989 ---- Server IP: 66.207.199.35 Probable Submitter: 216.19.186.195 ---- Manual Page -- http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.json-decode.php Edit -- https://master.php.net/note/edit/86181 Del: integrated -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/86181/integrated Del: useless -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/86181/useless Del: bad code -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/86181/bad+code Del: spam -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/86181/spam Del: non-english -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/86181/non-english Del: in docs -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/86181/in+docs Del: other reasons-- https://master.php.net/note/delete/86181 Reject -- https://master.php.net/note/reject/86181 Search -- https://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php