PHP json_decode showing null while parsing JSON - php

Question

I am trying to parse JSON data but while json_decode() the var_dump() shows the value as null. Below is my program:
<?php
$json='_variable_1461092903017=[ {
message:"success",
data1:{
datalist:[
{field1:"value1",field2:"value2"} ,
{field1:"value1",field2:"value2"} ,
{field1:"value1",field2:"value2"}
]
},
data2:[ {
Date:"20 Apr 2016",
details:[
{Code:"123",name:"xyz"},
{Code:"456",name:"abc"},
],
},
{
Date:"21 Apr 2016",
details:[
{Code:"123",name:"xyz"},
{Code:"456",name:"abc"},
],
},
{
Date:"22 Apr 2016",
details:[
{Code:"123",name:"xyz"},
{Code:"456",name:"abc"},
],
}
]}
]';
$json_data = json_decode($json);
var_dump($json_data);
?>

Answer 1

Like others said that is not valid JSON
you can debug it using a JSON Linter http://jsonlint.com
A cool valid JSON railroad diagram:
http://www.json.org
This should be what you are looking for (I didn't execute it):
<?php
$json='[{
"message" :"success",
"data1":{
"datalist" :[
{ "field1":"value1","field2":"value2"},
{"field1":"value1","field2":"value2"},
{"field1":"value1","field2":"value2"}
]
},
"data2":[ {
"Date":"20 Apr 2016",
"details":[
{"Code":"123","name":"xyz"},
{"Code":"456","name":"abc"}
]
},
{
"Date":"21 Apr 2016",
"details":[
{"Code":"123","name":"xyz"},
{"Code":"456","name":"abc"}
]
},
{
"Date":"22 Apr 2016",
"details":[
{"Code":"123","name":"xyz"},
{"Code":"456","name":"abc"}
]
}
]}
]';
$json_data = json_decode($json);
var_dump($json_data);
Errors in JSON:
You need to double quote your keys:
{
"key": "value"
}
Not:
{
key: "value"
}
After your closing array bracket ] you are adding a ,
should be this:
{
"datalist": [ "blah", "blah"]
}
Not:
{
"datalist": [ "blah", "blah"],
}
The last element in your array should not have a comma after it:
{
"datalist": [{"key1":"value1", {"key2": "value2"}]
}
Not:
{
"datalist": [{"key1":"value1", {"key2": "value2"},]
}