php array to javascript

Question

Possible Duplicate:
Pass a PHP string to a Javascript variable (including escaping newlines)

I have a PHP array that I want to use in a javascript script. I suppose that I will have to convert it to a string that can be understood by javascript, and embed the string inside the script. What is the best way to accomplish this.

EDIT - This is for initial load of the page, not subsequent AJAX call

$textMessages = array();

Answer 1

You could use JSON.

json_encode and json_decode on the server side and JSON.stringify and JSON.parse on the client side. Both client side functions are natively built-into modern browsers but if you need to support legacy browsers you could include the json2.js script to your page.

Answer 2

json_encode(). Put in a PHP array, receive a string representation of a JS array.

Answer 3

JSON is perfect for this.

echo json_encode($textMessages);