Retrieve string from json - php

Question

I'm trying to retrieve a URL string from some json code.
Here is the json code
{"files":["www.example1.com"],"previews":["www.example1preview.com"],"meta":{},"userId":"guest","product":{"id":"2335","name":"standard"},"type":"u"}
Looking at what I've seen in the PHP manual I'm trying to retrieve previews like this.
<?php
ob_start();
include('getjson.php');
$meta_value_json = ob_get_clean();
echo $meta_value_json;
$meta_value_json = json_decode($meta_value_json);
print $meta_value_json->{'previews'};
?>
This doesn't seem to output the value however.

Answer 1

By experimenting with php -a command on terminal, I've put your json into json_decode and managed to get your link by just doing:
print $meta_value_json->previews[0];
The only reason to use print $meta_value_json->{'previews'}; at least according to php documentation is if you want an object as output and the key trying to retrieve is numerical or of a type that is not supported by php.
By experimenting a bit further, the reason that print $meta_value_json->{'previews'}; fails is because print expects a string, in our case here previews is an array. Therefore if you do print $meta_value_json->{'previews'}[0]; it will also work as expected.

Answer 2

You need to get the value from your decoded json like this: $class->parameter.
Knowing that previews is an array, you will also need to choose a specific element from it to print ( I got the first one ):
<?php
ob_start();
include('getjson.php');
$meta_value_json = ob_get_clean();
echo $meta_value_json;
$meta_value_json = json_decode($meta_value_json);
print $meta_value_json->previews[0]; /// get the specific value
?>