Question

After googling a while, I found out I can make google searches using this code:

$text=$_GET['text'];
$results=file_get_contents("http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/services/search/web?v=1.0&q=" . $text);
// Too lazy to use cURL
$results=json_decode($results);

The problem is that $results is actually an object(stdClass), and handling it like I would with arrays doesn’t work (i.e. $results["responseData"]). This is the full var_dump:

object(stdClass)#1 (3) {
  ["responseData"]=>
  object(stdClass)#2 (2) {
    ["results"]=>
    array(4) {
      [0]=>
      object(stdClass)#3 (8) {
        ["GsearchResultClass"]=>
        string(10) "GwebSearch"
        ["unescapedUrl"]=>
        string(51) "http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=lulz"
        ["url"]=>
        string(55) "http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php%3Fterm%3Dlulz"
        ["visibleUrl"]=>
        string(23) "www.urbandictionary.com"
        ["cacheUrl"]=>
        string(73) "http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:9eN_paaTATEJ:www.urbandictionary.com"
        ["title"]=>
        string(29) "Urban Dictionary: <b>lulz</b>"
        ["titleNoFormatting"]=>
        string(22) "Urban Dictionary: lulz"
        ["content"]=>
        string(159) "Beginning as a plural variant of lol, <b>Lulz</b> was originally an exclamation but is now   often used as a noun meaning interesting or funny internet cont..."
      }
      [1]=>
      object(stdClass)#4 (8) {
        ["GsearchResultClass"]=>
        string(10) "GwebSearch"
        ["unescapedUrl"]=>
        string(34) "http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lulz"
        ["url"]=>
        string(34) "http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lulz"
        ["visibleUrl"]=>
        string(17) "en.wiktionary.org"
        ["cacheUrl"]=>
        string(67) "http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:ksdO4S_AefUJ:en.wiktionary.org"
        ["title"]=>
        string(24) "<b>lulz</b> - Wiktionary"
        ["titleNoFormatting"]=>
        string(17) "lulz - Wiktionary"
        ["content"]=>
        string(173) "Like “Hakuna matata†in The Lion King, “<b>lulz</b>†is not just a word, but a philosophy.   [...] Anonymous has made campaigning sexy for the first time since 1968."
      }
      [2]=>
      object(stdClass)#5 (8) {
        ["GsearchResultClass"]=>
        string(10) "GwebSearch"
        ["unescapedUrl"]=>
        string(51) "http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/i-did-it-for-the-lulz"
        ["url"]=>
        string(51) "http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/i-did-it-for-the-lulz"
        ["visibleUrl"]=>
        string(16) "knowyourmeme.com"
        ["cacheUrl"]=>
        string(66) "http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:ITVRlkQkfckJ:knowyourmeme.com"
        ["title"]=>
        string(45) "I Did It for the <b>Lulz</b> | Know Your Meme"
        ["titleNoFormatting"]=>
        string(38) "I Did It for the Lulz | Know Your Meme"
        ["content"]=>
        string(173) "About I Did it for the <b>Lulz</b> (also known as 4 the <b>lulz</b>) is a popular catchphrase used   to express that one carried out a specific action for the sake of perso."
      }
      [3]=>
      object(stdClass)#6 (8) {
        ["GsearchResultClass"]=>
        string(10) "GwebSearch"
        ["unescapedUrl"]=>
        string(56) "http://www.internetslang.com/LULZ-meaning-definition.asp"
        ["url"]=>
        string(56) "http://www.internetslang.com/LULZ-meaning-definition.asp"
        ["visibleUrl"]=>
        string(21) "www.internetslang.com"
        ["cacheUrl"]=>
        string(71) "http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:UNXME3GmS-AJ:www.internetslang.com"
        ["title"]=>
        string(88) "What does <b>LULZ</b> mean? - <b>LULZ</b> Definition - Meaning of <b>LULZ</b> <b>...</b>"
        ["titleNoFormatting"]=>
        string(60) "What does LULZ mean? - LULZ Definition - Meaning of LULZ ..."
        ["content"]=>
        string(185) "This Internet Slang page is designed to explain what the meaning of <b>LULZ</b> is. The   slang word / acronym / abbreviation <b>LULZ</b> means... . Internet Slang. A list of <b>...</b>"
      }
    }
    ["cursor"]=>
    object(stdClass)#7 (6) {
      ["resultCount"]=>
      string(9) "1,080,000"
      ["pages"]=>
      array(8) {
        [0]=>
        object(stdClass)#8 (2) {
          ["start"]=>
          string(1) "0"
          ["label"]=>
          int(1)
        }
        [1]=>
        object(stdClass)#9 (2) {
          ["start"]=>
          string(1) "4"
          ["label"]=>
          int(2)
        }
        [2]=>
        object(stdClass)#10 (2) {
          ["start"]=>
          string(1) "8"
          ["label"]=>
          int(3)
        }
        [3]=>
        object(stdClass)#11 (2) {
          ["start"]=>
          string(2) "12"
          ["label"]=>
          int(4)
        }
        [4]=>
        object(stdClass)#12 (2) {
          ["start"]=>
          string(2) "16"
          ["label"]=>
          int(5)
        }
        [5]=>
        object(stdClass)#13 (2) {
          ["start"]=>
          string(2) "20"
          ["label"]=>
          int(6)
        }
        [6]=>
        object(stdClass)#14 (2) {
          ["start"]=>
          string(2) "24"
          ["label"]=>
          int(7)
        }
        [7]=>
        object(stdClass)#15 (2) {
          ["start"]=>
          string(2) "28"
          ["label"]=>
          int(8)
        }
      }
      ["estimatedResultCount"]=>
      string(7) "1080000"
      ["currentPageIndex"]=>
      int(0)
      ["moreResultsUrl"]=>
      string(76) "http://www.google.com/search?oe=utf8&ie=utf8&source=uds&start=0&hl=en&q=lulz"
      ["searchResultTime"]=>
      string(4) "0.23"
    }
  }
  ["responseDetails"]=>
  NULL
  ["responseStatus"]=>
  int(200)
}

So, any clue on how to read the results array? (Didn’t try anything but the $results["responseData"], as I never used JSON before.)

Answer 1

Use the arrow operator to access an object’s data:

$results->responseData;

Or, if you prefer an array, you can use the 2nd param of json_decode to return the json data as an array, e.g.:

$results = json_decode($results, true);    

In general, you could also cast any object to an array using this:

$results = (array) $results;

Using either of the above, you can access your data using PHP array key syntax:

$results['responseData'];