PHP Fatal error: Call to undefined function json_decode()

Question

Apache is logging PHP Fatal error: Call to undefined function json_decode(). After some googling, it seems this problem is a result of not having the latest version of php. Oddly, running php --version ouputs

PHP 5.5.1-2+debphp.org~precise+2 (cli) (built: Aug  6 2013 10:49:43) 
Copyright (c) 1997-2013 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v2.5.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2013 Zend Technologies
    with Zend OPcache v7.0.2-dev, Copyright (c) 1999-2013, by Zend Technologies
    with Xdebug v2.2.3, Copyright (c) 2002-2013, by Derick Rethans

Clearly showing that my php version is greater than 5.1.

Any ideas as to what could cause this, or the steps to take to find out?

EDIT: The result of a script echoing phpversion is 5.5.1-2+debphp.org~precise

EDIT: The result of phpinfo() is also PHP Version 5.5.1-2+debphp.org~precise+2

Furthermore, in the phpinfo(), it lists the module JSON and the module authors (Omar Kilani, Scott MacVicar).

Danille

Check the disable_functions ini directive to see if json_decode is in that list – Notice

Does the json module show up in your phpinfo() output? – Professional

disable_functions = pcntl_alarm,pcntl_fork,pcntl_waitpid,pcntl_wait,pcntl_wifexited,pcntl_wifstopped,pcntl_wifsignaled,pcntl_wexitstatus,pcntl_wtermsig,pcntl_wstopsig,pcntl_signal,pcntl_signal_dispatch,pcntl_ge\ t_last_error,pcntl_strerror,pcntl_sigprocmask,pcntl_sigwaitinfo,pcntl_sigtimedwait,pcntl_exec,pcntl_getpriority,pcntl_setpriority, – Danille

Ubuntu 12.04 has a package: php-services-json. Maybe this helps... – Timaru

@Timaru That's the PEAR package Services_Json. Which is also quite encompassing, parses a bit Javascript, not just JSON even. But there are other userland implementations directly reimplementing json_decode. – Kylstra

Answer 1

Using Ubuntu?

Short answer:

sudo apt-get install php7.2-json

(or php7.1-json or php5-json depending on the PHP version you're running)

Then of course make sure you restart Apache:

sudo service apache2 restart

Or if you are using PHP-FPM:

sudo service php7.2-fpm restart

(Or php7.1-fpm or php5-fpm)

Explanation

Debian has removed the previous JSON extension as of PHP 5.5rc2 due to a license conflict.

The JSON license has a clause which states:

The Software shall be used for Good, not Evil.

This causes a problem with Free Software Foundation's definition of free software which states:

The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).

FSF goes on to specifically list the JSON license as nonfree.

Yes it seems a bit silly. Nevertheless Debian has removed the non-compliant JSON extension, and instead offered a replacement extension that is functionally equivalent.

To be clear: PHP itself has NOT removed JSON, it's still in master. This is a distro / package manager issue.

Rasmus makes it pretty clear:

We have not removed json and we will never release a version of php without json support built in. Any changes in 5.5 is due to whatever distro packaging you are using which we have no control over.

More details

http://iteration99.com/2013/php-json-licensing-and-php-5-5/

http://liorkaplan.wordpress.com/2013/06/01/bye-bye-non-free-php-json-extension/

https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=63520

http://philsturgeon.co.uk/blog/2013/08/fud-cracker-php-55-never-lost-json-support

Doncaster

I came back to mention that it appears as if 5.5.0 is fine with JSON, it is only 5.5.1 that breaks. – Danille

5.5.3 does not have it neither (Ubuntu 13.10) – Orville

Don't forget to restart apache after installing json module with the command Chris mentioned. – Hognut

If php-json were a dependency of php-common this would all go away...bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/1280030 ...please vote if this was a problem for you. – Martine

Ever wonder who defines this "Evil" here? And you'd use software that may or may not allow the use you put it to? Me? I wouldn't. – Quicken

Does anyone find it ironically "evil" that this software licensing exclusion cost me an hour of research time? – Doggo

still didn't work, I had to remove and reinstall php5-fpm + extensions (ubuntu 14, PHP 5.5.9-1ubuntu4.5) – Biquarterly

I just spent a HOURS debugging my php code! Are you kidding me with this... FML – Unattended

Same in FreeBSD: Use pkg install php56-json – Luralurch

Answer 2

With Ubuntu :

sudo apt-get install php5-json
sudo service php5-fpm restart

Nic

What about apt-get install php7.2-json for 7.2. I tried this but still not working. Giving me error on laravel app php RuntimeException PHP's json extension is required to use Monolog's NormalizerFormatter – Polish

Answer 3

As a RHEL 8 user, this was fixed with:

yum install php-json

And then reloading nginx and php-fpm. So basically the json libraries where missing from the default php install.

This should also work on CENTOS 8.

Fairy

Answer 4

Solution for LAMP users:

apt-get install php5-json
service apache2 restart

Source

Flogging

If a restart fails to solve the error, kill the apache2 processes and start: sudo pkill apache2; service apache2 start – Simplex

Answer 5

If you're using phpbrew try to install json extension to fix error with undefined function json_decode():

phpbrew ext install json

Reader

Answer 6

I have the same question: PHP Fatal error: Call to undefined function json_decode(), but I run php under cygwin on Windows. When I run php -m, I found that there is no json module installed. So I run cygwin setup.exe again, check json package from the configuration interface, and the problem is solved.

Objective

or (from the command line): apt-cyg install php-json -- see #45286837 for details on installing apt-cyg – Radiochemistry

Answer 7

The same issue with 7.1

apt-get install php7.1-json sudo nano /etc/php/7.1/mods-available/json.ini

• Add json.so to the new file
• Add the appropriate sym link under conf.d
• Restart apache2 service (if needed)

Courtyard

Answer 8

The module was install but symbolic link was not in /etc/php5/cli/conf.d

Loo

Answer 9

you might also consider avoiding the core PHP module altogether.

It is quite common to use the guzzle json tools as a library in PHP apps these days. If your app is a composer app, it is trivial to include them as a part of a composer build. The guzzle tool, as a library, would be a turnkey replacement for the json tool, if you tell PHP to autoinclude the tool.

http://docs.guzzlephp.org/en/stable/search.html?q=json_encode#

http://apigen.juzna.cz/doc/guzzle/guzzle/function-GuzzleHttp.json_decode.html

Gymnasiast

Guzzle's json_decode is using php's json_decode with additional error check, so your answer is invalid – Krebs

Answer 10

CENTOS

Scene

I installed PHP in Centos Docker, this is my DockerFile:

FROM centos:7.6.1810

LABEL maintainer="[email protected]"

RUN yum install httpd-2.4.6-88.el7.centos -y
RUN rpm -Uvh https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-7.noarch.rpm
RUN rpm -Uvh https://mirror.webtatic.com/yum/el7/webtatic-release.rpm
RUN yum install php72w -y
ENTRYPOINT ["/usr/sbin/httpd", "-D", "FOREGROUND"]

The app returned the same error with json_decode and json_encode

Resolution

Install PHP Common that has json_encode and json_decode

yum install -y php72w-common-7.2.14-1.w7.x86_64

How to find the resolution?

I have another Docker File what build the container for the API and it has the order to install php-mysql client:

yum install php72w-mysql.x86_64 -y

If i use these image to mount the app, the json_encode and json_decode works!! Ok..... What dependencies does this have?

[root@c023b46b720c etc]# yum install php72w-mysql.x86_64
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, ovl
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
 * base: mirror.gtdinternet.com
 * epel: mirror.globo.com
 * extras: linorg.usp.br
 * updates: mirror.gtdinternet.com
 * webtatic: us-east.repo.webtatic.com
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package php72w-mysql.x86_64 0:7.2.14-1.w7 will be installed
--> Processing Dependency: php72w-pdo(x86-64) for package: php72w-mysql-7.2.14-1.w7.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: libmysqlclient.so.18(libmysqlclient_18)(64bit) for package: php72w-mysql-7.2.14-1.w7.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: libmysqlclient.so.18()(64bit) for package: php72w-mysql-7.2.14-1.w7.x86_64
--> Running transaction check
---> Package mariadb-libs.x86_64 1:5.5.60-1.el7_5 will be installed
---> Package php72w-pdo.x86_64 0:7.2.14-1.w7 will be installed
--> Processing Dependency: php72w-common(x86-64) = 7.2.14-1.w7 for package: php72w-pdo-7.2.14-1.w7.x86_64
--> Running transaction check
---> Package php72w-common.x86_64 0:7.2.14-1.w7 will be installed
--> Finished Dependency Resolution

Dependencies Resolved

========================================================================================================
 Package                   Arch               Version                        Repository            Size
========================================================================================================
Installing:
 php72w-mysql              x86_64             7.2.14-1.w7                    webtatic              82 k
Installing for dependencies:
 mariadb-libs              x86_64             1:5.5.60-1.el7_5               base                 758 k
 php72w-common             x86_64             7.2.14-1.w7                    webtatic             1.3 M
 php72w-pdo                x86_64             7.2.14-1.w7                    webtatic              89 k

Transaction Summary
========================================================================================================
Install  1 Package (+3 Dependent packages)

Total download size: 2.2 M
Installed size: 17 M
Is this ok [y/d/N]: y
Downloading packages:
(1/4): mariadb-libs-5.5.60-1.el7_5.x86_64.rpm                                    | 758 kB  00:00:00     
(2/4): php72w-mysql-7.2.14-1.w7.x86_64.rpm                                       |  82 kB  00:00:01     
(3/4): php72w-pdo-7.2.14-1.w7.x86_64.rpm                                         |  89 kB  00:00:01     
(4/4): php72w-common-7.2.14-1.w7.x86_64.rpm                                      | 1.3 MB  00:00:06     
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total                                                                   336 kB/s | 2.2 MB  00:00:06     
Running transaction check
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded
Running transaction
  Installing : 1:mariadb-libs-5.5.60-1.el7_5.x86_64                                                 1/4 
  Installing : php72w-common-7.2.14-1.w7.x86_64                                                     2/4 
  Installing : php72w-pdo-7.2.14-1.w7.x86_64                                                        3/4 
  Installing : php72w-mysql-7.2.14-1.w7.x86_64                                                      4/4 
  Verifying  : php72w-common-7.2.14-1.w7.x86_64                                                     1/4 
  Verifying  : 1:mariadb-libs-5.5.60-1.el7_5.x86_64                                                 2/4 
  Verifying  : php72w-pdo-7.2.14-1.w7.x86_64                                                        3/4 
  Verifying  : php72w-mysql-7.2.14-1.w7.x86_64                                                      4/4 

Installed:
  php72w-mysql.x86_64 0:7.2.14-1.w7                                                                     

Dependency Installed:
  mariadb-libs.x86_64 1:5.5.60-1.el7_5                php72w-common.x86_64 0:7.2.14-1.w7               
  php72w-pdo.x86_64 0:7.2.14-1.w7                    

Complete!

Yes! Inside the dependences is the common packages. I Installed it into my other container and it works! After, i put de directive into DockerFile, Git commit!! Git Tag!!!! Git Push!!!! Ready!

Annapurna

Answer 11

cPanel

Go to MultiPHP INI Editor and select the Editor Mode tab, enter the following to enable JSON extensions:

extension=json.so

Or, if you have an existing php.ini file in your root directory, check if this extension is listed and make sure it's not commented out (preceded by semi-colon).

Promiscuous