PHP to feed the json_decode() function with an PHP Array? -

i have proper .json physical file , read php parsing it.

let's sales.json contains:

{     "custid" : "7761",      "items" : [         {             "itemcode"  : "a11231g",             "suppliers" : [                 {                     "id" : "s10001",                     "name" : "benny & john",                 },                             {                     "id" : "s10004",                     "name" : "colorado dimension",                 }             ]         }     ] } 

then consume php:

$sales = json_decode( file_get_contents("store/sales.json"), true ); 

there no problem , $sales become array ok.

now reason, want feed json_decode() function php array (instead of .json physical file).

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i know dumb way doing converting, array -> json -> array, array array.

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but whatever reason have,

• even if have php array() with correct structure, if use json_encode($phparray), feed json_decode( json_encode($phparray), true ), give exact object json_decode("sales.json") file?
• (or) how can feed json_decode function php array() object have?

actually, json_decode returns std object, not array. array json string need use json_decode($string, true).