Description:
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---
From manual page: http://www.php.net/function.json-decode
---
Server: Linux Ubuntu
PHP Version: 5.6.20-1+deb.sury.org~trusty+1
Server API: FPM/FastCGI
Virtual Directory Support: disabled


I test some date format functions with json_decode. Noticed that the function return after json_decode the date as int.


Test script:
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<?php 
$theDate = '21 June, 2016';

var_dump( $theDate );
// output: string(13) "21 June, 2016"

echo '<hr>';

$myDate = json_decode($theDate, true);
var_dump($myDate);
// output: NULL

echo '<hr>';

$dt = new DateTime( $theDate );
$myDate = $dt->format('Y-m-d');
var_dump( $myDate );
// output: string(10) "2016-06-21"

echo '<hr>';

$dt = new DateTime( $theDate );
$myDate = $dt->format('Y-m-d');
var_dump( json_encode($myDate, true) );
// output: string(12) ""2016-06-21""

echo '<hr>';

// false output? : 

$dt = new DateTime( $theDate );
$myDate = $dt->format('Y-m-d');
var_dump( json_decode($myDate, true) );
// output: int(2016)

?>

Expected result:
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string(12) "2016-06-21"

Actual result:
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int(2016)