json_decoding.php

<?php
$people = '{
				"data":[{
						"first_name":"jake",
						"last_name":"bennett",
						"age":31,
						"email":"jake@bennett.com",
						"secret":"VXNlIHRoaXMgc2VjcmV0IHBocmFzZSBzb21ld2hlcmUgaW4geW91ciBjb2RlJ3MgY29tbWVudHM="
					},{
						"first_name":"jordon",
						"last_name":"brill",
						"age":85,
						"email": "jordon@brill.com",
						"secret":"YWxidXF1ZXJxdWUuIHNub3JrZWwu"
					},]}';

/**
 * Instructions:
 *
 * Given the above JSON, build a simple PHP script to import it.
 *
 * Your script should create two variables:
 *
 * - a comma-separated list of email addresses
 * - the original data, sorted by age descending, with a new field on each record
 * called "name" which is the first and last name joined.
*/

// Solution

// removing the trailing comma
$people = preg_replace("/(,])/", "]", $people);


//decoding the json object into a php object
$decoded_object = json_decode($people, false);

// the two variables to hold the output
$email_addresses = [];
$new_people_record = [];

// using the loop to populate both variables
foreach ($decoded_object->data as $data_item) {
	array_push($email_addresses, $data_item->email);
	array_push($new_people_record,
		[
			"name" => "$data_item->first_name $data_item->last_name",
			"first_name" => $data_item->first_name,
			"last_name" => $data_item->last_name,
			"age" => $data_item->age,
			"email" => $data_item->email,
			"secret" => $data_item->secret
		]
	);
}

// Sorting age by descending order
usort($new_people_record, function ($a, $b) { return $b['age'] - $a['age']; });

// comma-separated email list
$email_addresses = implode(', ', $email_addresses);

// output
echo '<pre>';
echo  $email_addresses . '<br>';
print_r($new_people_record);