Can I decode JSON containing PHP code? - php

Question

Is it possible to have a JSON string containing PHP Code, and to have this string decoded?
For example, this works as it should:
$array = ["page", "is-home", $_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"] == "/"];
var_export($array);
// array (
// 0 => 'page',
// 1 => 'is-home',
// 2 => false,
// )
This, does not work:
$json = '["page", "is-home", $_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"] == "/"]';
$array = json_decode($json); // returns NULL
echo json_last_error_msg(); // Syntax error
The second example will only work if $_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"] == "/" is removed from the json string.
Is there a way to parse this string using json_decode, and if not, are there alternative methods to accomplish this?
Many thanks!
UPDATE
The $_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"] == "/" has to be parsed. I am trying to extend Blade Templating so that I can implement parsed functions such as this:
#add-request('page', 'is-home', $_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"] == '/')
UPDATE #2
To try to simplify the matter, I need to turn a string into an object.
$str = '["page", "is-home", $_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"] == "/"]'; // this is obtained by parsing the top blade extension (not important how)
From the string I need the following array:
$array = ["page", "is-home", true / false ]
Keep in mind that the original string can contain theoretically any PHP object for one of the JSON values.

Answer 1

I think you're on the right track, but instead of trying to "simulate" a decode by putting single-quotes, why not (for your proof of concept) first ENCODE, then 'echo' / 'print' the value that it returns, and then DECODE to see what it returns.

Answer 2

Why don't you use json_encode() to obtain json string??
// create json string by json_encode() from array
$json = json_encode([
"page",
"is-home",
$_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"] == "/"
]);
// decode the encoded string with no error, of course ....
$array = json_decode($json);

Answer 3

As you can clearly see in the output, your first array does not contain any PHP at all.
$array = ["page", "is-home", $_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"] == "/"];
automatically fills $array[2] with the boolean false, not with PHP code.
So, let's assume you can't do such a calculation on the client (in fact, you can do this calculation in javascript as well). So you would have to send it to the server as a json string (properly encoded), decode it, eval it, and post the result back into the array.
$json = '["page", "is-home", "$_SERVER[\"REQUEST_URI\"] == \"/\""]';
$array = json_decode($json);
$array[2]=eval($array[2]);
But please don't do this! It is a big security hole.
Instead, feel free to ask a new question as to how you can do this calculation in javascript as well.

Answer 4

For your case you could do:
$is_home = $_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"] == "/";
$json = '["page", "is-home", '. $is_home .']';
$array = json_decode($json);

Answer 5

That's because you are using a variable in your string which is not parsed. In addition, $_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"] == "/" returns false. Boolean false will be converted to an empty string if it is concatenated to a string.
You should rewrite your code to something like this:
// Is the request URI equal to "/"?
$reqUriTest = ($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"] == "/");
// If boolean false is converted to a string, it will become an empty string.
// So we need to explicitly use values "true" or "false".
$reqUriStr = ($reqUriTest ? "true" : "false");
// Now we can insert $reqUriStr into the JSON string.
$json = '["page", "is-home", '.$reqUriStr.']';
$array = json_decode($json);