JSON: fix messed up JSON string

Question

as usual I'm working with my messed up database and I found that there are some fuxked up JSON string in the database... Some of the JSON strings are missing the double-quotes around the keys and/or values.

I'm thinking of writing a PHP script to fix that, what recommendations do you guys have about how I can detect the missing quotes and automatically add them? Or there is no such convenient way...

Thanks smart community!

PEARs JSON class can parse such Javascript expressions, as can upgradephp; though not for values. Conversion approaches have been covered in previous questions on that very topic. — mario
– mario, Commented Mar 29, 2012 at 22:15
@mario Thank you for the information, but does it handle this kind of missing quotes situation? Problem is that some of the JSON strings are not well formed... Anyways I will do a search on other similar questions and see what I find... — Xavier_Ex
– Xavier_Ex, Commented Mar 29, 2012 at 22:43
Yes, it does handle missing key quotes. But no, completely garbled JSON cannot be reconstructed. You would need a resilent regex for that. (= No. Too much effort.) — mario
– mario, Commented Mar 29, 2012 at 22:45
@mario Hmm that sounds very interesting... I'm curious in how it can handle the missing quotes if the JSON objects are nested... I have already fixed my problem through a very specific detection mechanism, since the error cases are contained. Thank you for your knowledge :) — Xavier_Ex
– Xavier_Ex, Commented Apr 2, 2012 at 17:06

cegfault · Accepted Answer · 2012-03-29 22:17:26Z

1

You can use json_decode and json_last_error to detect if there is an error in the string. And then json_encode to write the valid json value back out.

answered Mar 29, 2012 at 22:17

cegfault

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2 Comments

Xavier_Ex Over a year ago

Thanks for your reply, however I don't see how the json_last_error would help me though. I know there will be an error, but fixing it is the main issue.

Xavier_Ex Over a year ago

Well I have already fixed the problem, luckily the number of error cases is contained so I can just do a very specific detection... Thanks for your reply, and I'll accept your answer to appreciate your help :)

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