Json Encode

3 min read Jun 2, 2026

--- title: json_encode autoseo: enabled: true theme: learn2 child_type: default admin: children_display_order: collection visible: true ---

json_encode — Transforms a value into a valid JSON string.

Basic Usage:

{$user|json_encode}

Depending on the value of $user this would return a string in JSON-format, e.g. {"username":"tplix","email":"[email protected]"}.

Parameters:

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
1	int	No	bitmask of flags, directly passed to PHP's json_encode
2	int	No	Depth

If you curious of the numeric values of the constants, as of JSON 1.2.1, the constants have the following values (not that you should use the numbers directly):

Display Numeric Values


JSON_HEX_TAG = 1
JSON_HEX_AMP = 2
JSON_HEX_APOS = 4
JSON_HEX_QUOT = 8
JSON_FORCE_OBJECT = 16
JSON_NUMERIC_CHECK = 32
JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES = 64
JSON_PRETTY_PRINT = 128
JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE = 256
JSON_ERROR_DEPTH = 1
JSON_ERROR_STATE_MISMATCH = 2
JSON_ERROR_CTRL_CHAR = 3
JSON_ERROR_SYNTAX = 4
JSON_ERROR_UTF8 = 5
JSON_OBJECT_AS_ARRAY = 1
JSON_BIGINT_AS_STRING = 2

By passing 16 as the second parameter, you can force json_encode to always format the JSON-string as an object. Without it, an array $myArray = ["a","b"] would be formatted as a javascript array:


{$myArray|json_encode} # renders: ["a","b"]
{$myArray|json_encode:16} # renders: {"0":"a","1":"b"}

Json Decode

Lower

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