# JsonSerializable::jsonSerialize

(PHP 5 >= 5.4.0, PHP 7)

JsonSerializable::jsonSerialize — Specify data which should be serialized to JSON

### Description

abstract public JsonSerializable::jsonSerialize ( ) : mixed

Serializes the object to a value that can be serialized natively by json_encode().

### Parameters

This function has no parameters.

### Return Values

Returns data which can be serialized by json_encode(), which is a value of any type other than a resource.

### Examples

Example #1 JsonSerializable::jsonSerialize() example returning an array

`<?php
class ArrayValue implements JsonSerializable {
public function __construct(array $array) {
$this->array = $array;
}
public function jsonSerialize() {
return $this->array;
}
}
$array = [1, 2, 3];
echo json_encode(new ArrayValue($array), JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);
?>`

The above example will output:

    [
        1,
        2,
        3
    ]

Example #2 JsonSerializable::jsonSerialize() example returning an associative array

`<?php
class ArrayValue implements JsonSerializable {
public function __construct(array $array) {
$this->array = $array;
}
public function jsonSerialize() {
return $this->array;
}
}
$array = ['foo' => 'bar', 'quux' => 'baz'];
echo json_encode(new ArrayValue($array), JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);
?>`

The above example will output:

    {
        "foo": "bar",
        "quux": "baz"
    }

Example #3 JsonSerializable::jsonSerialize() example returning an int

`<?php
class IntegerValue implements JsonSerializable {
public function __construct($number) {
$this->number = (integer) $number;
}
public function jsonSerialize() {
return $this->number;
}
}
echo json_encode(new IntegerValue(1), JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);
?>`

The above example will output:

    1

Example #4 JsonSerializable::jsonSerialize() example returning a string

`<?php
class StringValue implements JsonSerializable {
public function __construct($string) {
$this->string = (string) $string;
}
public function jsonSerialize() {
return $this->string;
}
}
echo json_encode(new StringValue('Hello!'), JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);
?>`

The above example will output:

    "Hello!"