Pass JSON Data from PHP to Python Script

Question

I'd like to be able to pass a PHP array to a Python script, which will utilize the data to perform some tasks. I wanted to try to execute my the Python script from PHP using shell_exec() and pass the JSON data to it (which I'm completely new to).

$foods = array("pizza", "french fries");
$result = shell_exec('python ./input.py ' . escapeshellarg(json_encode($foods)));
echo $result;

The "escapeshellarg(json_encode($foods)))" function seems to hand off my array as the following to the Python script (I get this value if I 'echo' the function:

'["pizza","french fries"]'

Then inside the Python script:

import sys, json
data = json.loads(sys.argv[1])
foods = json.dumps(data)
print(foods)

This prints out the following to the browser:

["pizza", "french fries"]

This is a plain old string, not a list. My question is, how can I best treat this data like a list, or some kind of data structure which I can iterate through with the "," as a delimiter? I don't really want to output the text to the browser, I just want to be able to break down the list into pieces and insert them into a text file on the filesystem.

Answer 1

Had the same problem

Let me show you what I did

PHP :

base64_encode(json_encode($bodyData))

then

json_decode(shell_exec('python ' . base64_encode(json_encode($bodyData)) );

and in Python I have

import base64

and

content = json.loads(base64.b64decode(sys.argv[1]))

as Em L already mentioned :)

It works for me Cheers!

Answer 2

You can base64 foods to string, then passed to the data to Python and decode it.For example:

import sys, base64
if len(sys.argv) > 1:
    data = base64.b64decode(sys.argv[1])
    foods = data.split(',')
    print(foods)

Answer 3

If you have the json string: data = '["pizza","french fries"]' and json.loads(data) isn't working (which it should), then you can use: MyPythonList = eval(data) . eval takes a string and converts it to a python object

Answer 4

Was having problems passing json from PHP to Python, my problem was with escaping the json string, which you are doing. But looks like you were decoding then re-encoding with "food"

From what I understand

Python json.dumps(data) == PHP json_encode(data)

Python json.loads(data) == PHP json_decode(data)

json.loads(data) -> String Data

json.load(data) -> File Data

json.dumps(data) -> String Data

json.dump(data) -> File Data

PHP:

$foods = array("pizza", "french fries");
$result = shell_exec('python ./input.py ' . escapeshellarg(json_encode($foods)));
echo $result;

Python:

data = json.loads(sys.argv[1])
for v in data:
   print(v)

ALSO

if you are passing key:value

PHP:

$foods = array("food1":"pizza", "food2":""french fries");
$result = shell_exec('python ./input.py ' . escapeshellarg(json_encode($foods)));
echo $result;

Python:

data = json.loads(sys.argv[1])
for(k,v) in content2.items():
   print("k+" => "+v)

Python:

data = json.loads(sys.argv[1])
print(data['food1'])