如何避免json_decode将true和false转换为0和1？

Question

I have this JSON string from reddit: http://www.reddit.com/.json . I am trying to get the "likes" field from this.

My problem is reddit uses "false" for the likes field, and "0" / null when there is nothing liked or unliked. When I use json_decode, it takes the "likes" field and changes the false to null if it is not liked. This causes me an issue, because now I can't tell if the post is disliked by the user or neutral.

I thought of replacing all of the "false" in the JSON string to "dislikes", but this doesn't work because if there is "false" in the post text, then that will be replaced as well.

                // what i have right now
                $response = str_replace("false", "\"dislikes\"", $output); 
                $out = json_decode($response, true);

How do I keep json_decode from changing "false" to 0?

Answer 1

You cannot change "false" to "dislikes"..
The reason is in your json it is false not "false" meaning the false in your json is in boolean type..

if you really want to change it modify the original array that was json_encoded :

sample:

// assuming this is your original array

$orginal_array = array("your_key" => false);

// change it to

$new_array = array("your_key" => "false");