How can I extract specific JSON elements with PHP? - php

Question

I'm toying with a small program that can pass a list of words to the Merriam-Webster API, and gets returned the definition, part of speech, sample sentence and so on.
The JSON string returned for each word by the API is as follows:
{
"meta": {
"id": "vase",
"uuid": "eb4f8388-84b2-4fd4-bfc8-2686a0222b73",
"src": "learners",
"section": "alpha",
"target": {
"tuuid": "60e7797e-fd75-43e1-a941-3def0963d822",
"tsrc": "collegiate"
},
"stems": [
"vase",
"vaselike",
"vases"
],
"app-shortdef": {
"hw": "vase",
"fl": "noun",
"def": ["{bc} a container that is used for holding flowers or for decoration"]
},
"offensive": false
},
"hwi": {
"hw": "vase",
"prs": [
{
"ipa": "ˈveɪs",
"pun": ",",
"sound": {"audio": "vase0002"}
},
{
"l": "British",
"ipa": "ˈvɑːz",
"sound": {"audio": "vase0003"}
}
]
},
"fl": "noun",
"ins": [
{
"il": "plural",
"if": "vas*es"
}
],
"gram": "count",
"def": [
{
"sseq": [
[
[
"sense",
{
"dt": [
[
"text",
"{bc}a container that is used for holding flowers or for decoration "
],
[
"vis",
[
{"t": "a beautiful Chinese {it}vase{/it}"},
{"t": "a {it}vase{/it} of roses"}
]
]
]
}
]
]
]
}
],
"shortdef": ["a container that is used for holding flowers or for decoration"]
}
]
The code I'm using to pull the information from the API is as follows:
<?php
$handle = fopen("inputfile.txt", "r");
if ($handle)
{
while (($line = fgets($handle)) !== false)
{
// process the line read.
//$json_new = grab_json_definition(trim($line), "collegiate", "0f3ee238-c219-472d-9079-df5ec8c0eb7d");
$json_new = grab_json_definition(trim($line) , "learners", "d300a82d-1f00-4f09-ac62-7ab37be796e8");
$data = json_decode($json_new, true);
echo "Word: " . $data[0]['meta']['id'] . "<br/>";
echo "IPA: " . $data[0]['hwi']['prs'][0][ipa] . "<br/>";
echo "Part of Speech: " . $data[0]['fl'] . "<br/>";
echo "Definition: " . $data[0]['shortdef'][0] . "<br/>";
echo "Sentence: " . $data[0]['def'][0]['sseq'][0][0][0] . "<br/>";
}
fclose($handle);
}
else
{
// error opening the file.
}
function grab_json_definition($word, $ref, $key)
{
$uri = "https://www.dictionaryapi.com/api/v3/references/" . urlencode($ref) . "/json/" . urlencode($word) . "?key=" . urlencode($key);
return file_get_contents($uri);
};
?>
I can easily navigate through to get the Word, Definition and so on, but I can't navigate down to "t" to get the sample sentences. I'm sure it's something basic but I can't figure it out. Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

First, your JSON example is broken, I believe it is missing a [ in the beginning.
Now, Here is an example, where I load the contents of the file, json_decode your SINGLE example. Note that I am not adding a foreach loop or while loop, but I am getting all of the attributes you are aiming for:
<?php
$f = file_get_contents('inputfile.txt');
$data = json_decode($f);
print_r($data);
echo "Word: " . $data[0]->meta->id . "<br/>";
echo "IPA: " . $data[0]->hwi->prs[0]->ipa . "<br/>";
echo "Part of Speech: " . $data[0]->fl . "<br/>";
echo "Definition: " . $data[0]->shortdef[0] . "<br/>";
echo "Sentence: " . $data[0]->def[0]->sseq[0][0][0] . "<br/>";
echo "T1: " . $data[0]->def[0]->sseq[0][0][1]->dt[1][1][0]->t . "<br/>"; // those can also be in foreach loop, I am just showing the basic example of accessing the attributes
echo "T2: " . $data[0]->def[0]->sseq[0][0][1]->dt[1][1][1]->t . "<br/>";
You can extend this code, or modify yours to add while/foreach loops... as you need them..