Array to Json // Non-consecutive number keys are OK for PHP // but not for a JavaScript array $array = array( 2 => array("Afghanistan",32,13), 4 => array("Albania",32,12) ); // array_values() removes the original keys and replaces // with plain consecutive numbers $out = array_values($array); json_encode($out); // [["Afghanistan",32,13],["Albania",32,12]] Json to Array $json_data = " ["2":["Afghanistan",32,12],"4":["Albania",32,12]]"; $out = json_decode($json_data, true);