Unexpected output 1 in json_encode - php

Question

I have been trying to print an output using json_encode, the code is below:
<?
$lid = $_GET['last_id'];
$sql = "SELECT * FROM tbl_posts WHERE id < $lid ORDER BY id DESC LIMIT 10";
$result = mysqli_query($con,$sql);
$json = include('datam.php');
echo json_encode($json);
?>
Here is the datam.php file:
<?
$count = 0;
while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result)) {
$id = $row['id'];
$likes = $row['likes'];
$dislikes = $row['dislikes'];
$text = $row['text'];
$text = htmlspecialchars($text);
$title = substr($text, 0, 50);
$title = preg_replace('~[^\\pL\d]+~u', '-', $title);
$title = trim($title, '-');
$title = strtolower($title);
$title = preg_replace('~[^-\w]+~', '', $title);
if(empty($title)) {
$title = "no-title";
}
$cat = $row['cat'];
$cat = strtolower($cat);
$cat = str_replace(" ","-",$cat);
$ccat = str_replace("-"," ",$cat);
$ccat = ucwords($ccat);
$by = $row['uid'];
$dt = $row['date'];
$tm = $row['time'];
$time = strtotime("$dt $tm");
$nsfw = $row['nsfw'];
if ($nsfw == 1)
$isnsfw = '<span class="nsfw">NSFW</span>';
else
$isnsfw = "";
// Time Ago
// Get OP
$suser = "SELECT * FROM tbl_users WHERE id = $by";
$muser = mysqli_query($con,$suser);
$guser = mysqli_fetch_array($muser);
$byuser = $guser['user'];
$byuser = strtolower($byuser);
$byuser = str_replace(" ","-",$byuser);
$cbyuser = str_replace("-"," ",$byuser);
$cbyuser = ucwords($cbyuser);
// WhatsApp Link
$wm = preg_replace("/\n/", "%0A", $text);
if($count == 5 && $cnsfw == 0) {
include "adapp.php";
}
echo '<div class="box" id="'.$id.'"><div class="t">Posted by '.$cbyuser.' in '.$ccat.' '.ago($time).' ago</div><div class="m">'.$text.'</div><div class="m"><span class="col-3"><span class="likes">'.$likes.' Likes</span></span><span class="col-3"><span class="dislikes">'.$dislikes.' Dislikes</span></span><span class="col-3">'.$isnsfw.'</span></div><div class="b"><span class="col-5 l bbox"><img src="/img/like.png" /></span><span class="col-5 l bbox"><img src="/img/dislike.png" /></span><span class="col-5 l bbox"><img src="/img/comment.png" /></span><span class="col-5 l bbox"><a rel="nofollow" href="whatsapp://send?text=http://whatsappstatus.in/msg/'.$id.'%0A'.$wm.'"><img src="/img/whatsapp.png" /></a></span><span class="col-5 l bbox"><img src="/img/options.png" /></span></div><div class="clr"></div></div>';
$count++;
}
?>
Using this code, all the output appears as expected but, at the end of each output, there is unexpected output 1 which has no source of origin.
Every time this code executes, it gives an unexpected 1 at the end and I can't seem to find where it is coming from.
Here is the picture of sample output:
You can visit this URL to check it: http://funpd.com/messages1

Answer 1

When using
$json = include('datam.php');
In your datam.php you should return the value of the data you want assigning to $json rather than echoing it out. The echo in the datam.php is code which is displaying the data and the 1 is the value being assigned to $json (which is the value returned by your datam.php page).
You can test this by commenting out the echo in the sub page and you should just see the value 1 being displayed.
It may be the easiest solution looking at your code to just include this sub-page and not assign the value to $json, but you may have a reason for json encoding the return value.
Update:
To batch data up, build an array of data. At the top
$output = [];
After your echo - build an array of the results and add it to output array...
$output[] = [$id, $byuser, $cbyuser, ...];
(You will need to complete this with all of the fields you need)
And at the end
return $output;
This will pass all the data back to the calling page.