Features

🐘 Idiomatic PHP

Associative arrays with => syntax
Nested array support
Proper single-quote string escaping
Optional $data variable assignment

🔣 Type-Accurate Output

Strings in single quotes
Numbers as PHP numeric literals
Booleans as true / false
JSON null mapped to PHP null

⚙️ Flexible Options

Short [] or long array() syntax
Toggle <?php tag inclusion
Toggle variable assignment
Download as .php file

PHP Array Guide

PHP Array Syntax

PHP supports both short array syntax (available since PHP 5.4) and the traditional array() function. Both are equivalent; short syntax is preferred in modern PHP.

// Short syntax (PHP 5.4+)
$data = [
    'name' => 'Alice',
    'age'  => 30,
];

// Long syntax (all PHP versions)
$data = array(
    'name' => 'Alice',
    'age'  => 30,
);

Working with PHP Arrays

 'Alice',
    'tags' => ['php', 'laravel'],
];

// Access a value
echo $data['name']; // Alice

// Loop over an associative array
foreach ($data as $key => $value) {
    echo "$key: " . print_r($value, true) . "\n";
}

// Convert back to JSON
echo json_encode($data, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);

Common Use Cases

Config files: Convert JSON config to PHP arrays for framework config files
Laravel / Symfony: Generate route, database, or service config arrays
Seeding: Turn JSON fixtures into PHP seeders for database population
Translation files: Convert JSON i18n strings to PHP language arrays
API mocking: Convert API response JSON to PHP test fixtures

FAQ

Q: Why are strings wrapped in single quotes?

A: Single quotes are preferred for literal strings in PHP because they do not process escape sequences, making them slightly faster and less error-prone than double-quoted strings.

Q: What PHP version is required for [] syntax?

A: Short array syntax [] was introduced in PHP 5.4. Use array() if you need to support older versions, though PHP 5.4 reached end-of-life in 2015 and should not be used in production.

Q: How are JSON null values handled?

A: JSON null is converted to PHP null. JSON true and false become PHP true and false respectively.

When to use PHP arrays generated from JSON

Converting JSON into a PHP array literal is useful for configuration files, test fixtures and seed data, where you want the data in version control as native PHP rather than parsed at runtime.

Tips and common pitfalls

For data that changes often, keep it as JSON and load it with json_decode($json, true) instead of hard-coding an array.
Always pass JSON_THROW_ON_ERROR to json_decode so invalid JSON throws an exception instead of returning null silently.
Large integers beyond PHP_INT_MAX become floats. Use JSON_BIGINT_AS_STRING to keep them exact.
A config file can simply return [...]; load it with $config = require "config.php";.

JSON to PHP Array Converter