Fatal error: Call to undefined function json_encode() ..?

Question

Im trying to use json with php and i keep getting the error

PHP Fatal error: Call to undefined function json_encode()

I am using php version 5.3.6 and on phpinfo(); nothing mentions json. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

For some reason your PHP was compiled without JSON. Either:

• Recompile it
• Install a package
• Use a function that emulates json_encode, which can be found in the comments section of http://php.net/manual/en/function.json-encode.php

Answer 2

If you're on Debian/Ubuntu, try:

apt-get install php5-json 

and then

service php5-fpm restart 

This will install the extension (this works on PHP 5.5.3).

Answer 3

try in shell (assuming you are using linux),
otherwise refer to phpinfo();

php -i | grep json 

example

php -i | grep json json json support => enabled json version => 1.2.1 

There is an interesting comment on the docs http://www.php.net/manual/en/json.requirements.php

If you're not seeing the json functions on 5.2.0 or newer, make sure php wasn't compiled with --disable-json

Answer 4

Here is how I solved on Centos 8

Used @ajreal's answer above (Fatal error: Call to undefined function json_encode() ..?) to find if it's enabled. If it's not, do this:

sudo dnf install php-json