Returning JSON from a PHP Script

Question

I want to return JSON from a PHP script.

Do I just echo the result? Do I have to set the Content-Type header?

Answer 1

A complete piece of nice and clear PHP code returning JSON is:

$option = $_GET['option'];

if ( $option == 1 ) {
    $data = [ 'a', 'b', 'c' ];
    // will encode to JSON array: ["a","b","c"]
    // accessed as example in JavaScript like: result[1] (returns "b")
} else {
    $data = [ 'name' => 'God', 'age' => -1 ];
    // will encode to JSON object: {"name":"God","age":-1}  
    // accessed as example in JavaScript like: result.name or result['name'] (returns "God")
}

header('Content-type: application/json');
echo json_encode( $data );