Why is json_encode adding backslashes?

I've been using json_encode for a long time, and I've not had any problems so far. Now I'm working with a upload script and I try to return some JSON data after file upload.

I have the following code:

print_r($result); // <-- This is an associative array
echo json_encode($result); // <-- this returns valid JSON

This gives me the following results:

// print_r result
Array
(
    [logo_url] => http://mysite.com/uploads/gallery/7f/3b/f65ab8165d_logo.jpeg
    [img_id] => 54
    [feedback] => Array
        (
            [message] => File uploaded
            [success] => 1
        )

)

// Echo result
{"logo_url":"http:\/\/mysite.com\/uploads\/gallery\/7f\/3b\/f65ab8165d_logo.jpeg","img_id":"54","feedback":{"message":"File uploaded","success":true}}

Can anyone tell me why json_encode adds slashes?

update

@Quentin said that something is happening between json_encode and .parseJSON and he's right.

Doing a alert(data.toSource()); gives me the dollowing result:

({response:"{\"logo_url\":\"http:\\/\\/storelocator.com\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/gallery\\/7f\\/3b\\/71b9520cfc91a90afbdbbfc9d2b2239b_logo.jpeg\",\"img_id\":\"62\",\"feedback\":{\"message\":\"File uploaded\",\"success\":true}}", status:200})

And this is not valid JSON. It also adds the status:200 and I have no idea where this comes from.

Could it be that the Plupload bind does something to my returned data?

This is my js script:

  uploader.bind('FileUploaded', function(up, file, data) {
    alert(data.toSource());
    $('#' + file.id + " b").html("100%");
  });

Solution 1:

Just use the "JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES" Option (added after version 5.4).

json_encode($array,JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES);

Solution 2:

I just came across this issue in some of my scripts too, and it seemed to be happening because I was applying json_encode to an array wrapped inside another array which was also json encoded. It's easy to do if you have multiple foreach loops in a script that creates the data. Always apply json_encode at the end.

Here is what was happening. If you do:

$data[] = json_encode(['test' => 'one', 'test' => '2']);
$data[] = json_encode(['test' => 'two', 'test' => 'four']);
echo json_encode($data);

The result is:

["{\"test\":\"2\"}","{\"test\":\"four\"}"]

So, what you actually need to do is:

$data[] = ['test' => 'one', 'test' => '2'];
$data[] = ['test' => 'two', 'test' => 'four'];
echo json_encode($data);

And this will return

[{"test":"2"},{"test":"four"}]