The json_decode function can be used to parse json. For example, let's say you have the following JSON.

{ 
 "foo": "Hello",
 "bar": "World"
}

In this example, the JSON is stored in a variable named $json.

$json = '{"foo":"Hello","bar":"World"}';

Or, if the JSON is in a file, you would do the following to store the JSON in a variable named $json.

$json = file_get_contents('example.json');

Echoing the variable . . .

echo $json;

... will return the raw json.

{ "foo": "Hello", "bar": "World" }

You will want to store the parsed json in a new variable. By default, json_decode will create JSON as a variable.

$parsed_json = json_decode($json);

Or "true" can be used to create JSON as an array.

$parsed_json = json_decode($json, true);

Attempting to echo the variable . . .

echo $parsed_json;

... with print ARRAY.

ARRAY

var_dump can be used to output the array.

var_dump($parsed_json);

var_dump should produce something like this. 

array(2) { ["foo"]=> string(5) "Hello" ["bar"]=> string(5) "World" }

This output shows that the 'foo' key contains a value of 'Hello' and the 'bar' key contains a value of 'World'. Here is how to echo the value of the 'foo' key.

echo $parsed_json['foo'];

Which should output.

Hello