how to Access Nested Object Properties in PHP 8.1 After JSON Decoding
I've encountered a strange issue with I'm stuck on something that should probably be simple. After trying multiple solutions online, I still can't figure this out. I am working with an scenario with accessing nested object properties after decoding a JSON string in PHP 8.1. I have a JSON response from an API that looks like this: ```json { "user": { "id": 123, "name": "John Doe", "contacts": { "email": "john.doe@example.com", "phone": null } } } ``` I use the following code to decode the JSON response: ```php $jsonResponse = '{"user":{"id":123,"name":"John Doe","contacts":{"email":"john.doe@example.com","phone":null}}}'; $user = json_decode($jsonResponse); ``` Now, when I try to access the email and phone properties like this: ```php echo $user->user->contacts->email; // This works echo $user->user->contacts->phone; // This returns null ``` I get the expected email address printed, but the phone number returns `null` correctly, as I expected it to. However, here is the real scenario: when I try to check if the phone property exists, it throws an behavior: ```php if (isset($user->user->contacts->phone)) { echo 'Phone exists'; } else { echo 'Phone does not exist'; // This gets printed } ``` Despite knowing that the `phone` property exists, the code is treating it as if it doesn't exist. I also tried `property_exists()` to check for the property, but it behaves the same way. ```php if (property_exists($user->user->contacts, 'phone')) { echo 'Phone property exists'; } else { echo 'Phone property does not exist'; } ``` This outputs 'Phone property exists', which is indeed confusing since it should logically return the same result as `isset()`. Iām also aware that `null` values should not affect the existence check, so Iām unsure why this is happening. Can anyone explain this behavior and suggest how to properly check for the existence of this property without running into issues? Am I missing something fundamental with how PHP handles `null` values and property existence? I'm working on a service that needs to handle this. Has anyone else encountered this? I'd really appreciate any guidance on this. I'm coming from a different tech stack and learning Php.