JSON API request in PHP not working Properly [duplicate] - php

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This question already has answers here:
Decode gzipped web page retrieved via cURL in PHP
(2 answers)
Closed 2 years ago.
I'm struggling to retrieve data from an API using PHP.
My PHP code:
<?php
$curl = curl_init();
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_URL, "https://api.coronavirus.data.gov.uk/v1/data?filters=areaName=United%2520Kingdom;areaType=overview&structure={%22areaName%22:%22areaName%22,%22date%22:%22date%22,%22newCasesByPublishDate%22:%22newCasesByPublishDate%22,%22cumCasesByPublishDate%22:%22cumCasesByPublishDate%22}");
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
$output = curl_exec($curl);
curl_close($curl);
echo $output;
?>
Sadly this just outputs a random list of characters like this:
��9|_��M�\�E�JЀ���"�H*p�Kx���,:VK�`>���m��a˒��܆�V^��gt�d�e]���������������f�ӷ�7�?_�\=�^Z)�b�j��߽�����������{����������tu�������7����+/J���~���������>������o>|�y�v�����s��Et{���i��L;�+>�Pq�F7��ĵQ�u�q9s��e��*͈f hkh�T����Ӵn�ճ�4�Dk�4��E��q��J����XUi�4-r��j�9UZB���s)�J9��a&�z�� �$�Ͳ��n &��4���򺁖�� �a* ��UP�:Gz�4В:�Z�Pc�#KZsښJU'���mĔ3�#Kj�4KSU�#Kꜧ7�ڇ��ZR����ZUyݨ2I����`�֭�ӴQ�u-Y{JZX�i�%5*dwZ�;����4�Ű�FI�%A��3�������E�u��{#�e#TZm�uWidsVm� j�˱�`�V$��hrz�\���4�������Fǜ��%˩e�xQ��J-F�*�к�m��.��Q��y�m��2�4�+ݚJ��Ts�R�(!Ge�t���\��F�e���)� �kȤ�ZN4Tf��-���ςhَ&*���T�ɕ����ZA �R."��0�Y�#��Ԓ-��ֿ0�l#?թL�Uj��l,$�+md��t0�ȒLv�VM����f�$Abm�L#%)�hU�d�Sf�ݬ�vL�FǼ�k�VE�ܔ�%Y�/z�n��c�=UE&35��yd $3`�ʲ>jf��֬t�E��TvY��׬��(#"]�9%�u��4�'E���U�utQcК�}�T��*�浨0�J%T�Z� ��AkVr�kFj����iL ��0�+S��Y�H9�>u���S�O�S�I0��|�95-���g���Q +1d(HHԮ�Y�M=���IM�i8���T�PA��Ta�Ԇ��O���$*%�2����o�aU<��h��RR�2�.�#��cf�aT�8��JkF �!�O#y&����h$˔ #׎���yς�&è� ��|DO�;Z��$X3U��2yX�b��e��0��Ȩ�4���ZT<�iCK�D�t�i��D���m���Pa� k!����D3&^��������e֔i�2:��s�4�j��*��]z�3�G�tT�g<.�&7����V����^yY٦N$9�%���TF�a?ÿ�T׍��Q���e��6�w2�~L��m� �C�E��#wԏV^�7l5�uk�DPixZ\˅Ny��6�'���"�d�ͭ�5lj��}�J��88��Z�J���S�Ir5V��g�M��#[cx�5�}M�:��k{Suo� \7˔i�%��[�=BUe�U�p���%U��V]#[my�Z��.�V�*���z�4����݇�]�R^&�V�� o� �ɜ&^stS^(&���ʁv�W�p}l�\T)��]�#;�f *��S�U�YD�������\%��ft��*�(���ZO�z���#G�͐6L9*O�W�-[Qu�S������L��n��݊��B�sJ���M�Q����>�+ �F�)9�|��f7?�D�ó�%��Ҁ�������al6m�c#GUDŽ(�pyl䨖Z��cVS�q�O�t�PV��1I�j��%Ŭ��F���(�*�)�7�h%�*�U��\����VA�ڠ�~Fл��{k����Rh�b{���i�nv��M� |Ƙhf-TZ����{���&6�z��uW��UC��&�7kC�����D�n��T3�i�.�'��6��w1���,M��B{7e�r#M��81��м�Tc���]TiDR�G�Y K5���`���d��9�G�%����=�r(Й �W���Zx���q�#�^�P���b Oi�S1� &���sB#��sF#G�oB�M(e U�_�26��M(� %6��M(�99�Y�?T�mB)爲J�']N3*��W���7��93&S��}W)mJ݄�P��O1l=����U]�>]_� �[��V��(��V���n�#�h+e�����R�Jl+e�����R�Jl+e�����R���2����l�e+e([)C�J��������7W��ǫ����w������_��}u�������������ot�����������������˻����W��?<�?}��t�|ֿ~����_��_/��}����_��>~۩ώ?����S�=��<}w��������5-��_��_fk��������ç�����m��3W��ߦ���x����⶷nx
Putting the url directly into a browser works fine, giving a nice JSON, see see here.
I'm really scratching my head to know where to go from here to get this to parse properly in PHP.
Can anyone help, I'm completely out of my depth here.

Answer 1

Excellent....thank you soooo much !!!!!, you have just solved a problem I have been trying to sort out on-and-off for some time.

Answer 2

The retrieved data is encoded, to enable decoding, add this line.
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_ENCODING, '');
This enables the decoding of the retrieved data, by using and empty string as parameter, it enables all encoding types.
With the line added, your code will look like this.
$curl = curl_init();
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_URL, "https://api.coronavirus.data.gov.uk/v1/data?filters=areaName=United%2520Kingdom;areaType=overview&structure={%22areaName%22:%22areaName%22,%22date%22:%22date%22,%22newCasesByPublishDate%22:%22newCasesByPublishDate%22,%22cumCasesByPublishDate%22:%22cumCasesByPublishDate%22}");
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_ENCODING, ''); // <--- ADDED LINE!
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
$output = curl_exec($curl);
curl_close($curl);
echo $output;

Answer 3

you need just encoding, this is working code:
<?php
$curl = curl_init();
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_URL, "https://api.coronavirus.data.gov.uk/v1/data?
filters=areaName=United%2520Kingdom;areaType=overview&structure{%22areaName%22:%22areaName%22,%22date%22:%22date%22,%22newCasesByPublishDate%22:%22newCasesByPublishDate%22,%22cumCasesByPublishDate%22:%22cumCasesByPublishDate%22}");
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_ENCODING, '');
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
$output = curl_exec($curl);
curl_close($curl);
echo $output;
?>