Convert PHP array to JSON tree -

i have got array in format:

array(     array('id' => 1, 'parent_id' => null, 'name' => 'lorem ipsum'),     array('id' => 2, 'parent_id' => 1, 'name' => 'lorem ipsum1'),     array('id' => 3, 'parent_id' => 1, 'name' => 'lorem ipsum2'),     array('id' => 4, 'parent_id' => 2, 'name' => 'lorem ipsum3'),     array('id' => 5, 'parent_id' => 3, 'name' => 'lorem ipsum4'),     array('id' => 6, 'parent_id' => null, 'name' => 'lorem ipsum5'), ); 

i have convert array json object style:

var json = {       id: "1",       name: "loreim ipsum",       data: {},       children: [{           id: "2",           name: "lorem ipsum1",           data: {},           children: [{               id: "3",               name: "lorem ipsum2",               data: {},               children: [{             .............. 

how can this? thanks.

my solution:

$data = array(     array('id' => 1, 'parent_id' => null, 'name' => 'lorem ipsum'),     array('id' => 2, 'parent_id' => 1, 'name' => 'lorem ipsum1'),     array('id' => 3, 'parent_id' => 1, 'name' => 'lorem ipsum2'),     array('id' => 4, 'parent_id' => 2, 'name' => 'lorem ipsum3'),     array('id' => 5, 'parent_id' => 3, 'name' => 'lorem ipsum4'),     array('id' => 6, 'parent_id' => null, 'name' => 'lorem ipsum5'), );  $itemsbyreference = array();  // build array of item references: foreach($data $key => &$item) {    $itemsbyreference[$item['id']] = &$item;    // children array:    $itemsbyreference[$item['id']]['children'] = array();    // empty data class (so json_encode adds "data: {}" )     $itemsbyreference[$item['id']]['data'] = new stdclass(); }  // set items children of relevant parent item. foreach($data $key => &$item)    if($item['parent_id'] && isset($itemsbyreference[$item['parent_id']]))       $itemsbyreference [$item['parent_id']]['children'][] = &$item;  // remove items added parents elsewhere: foreach($data $key => &$item) {    if($item['parent_id'] && isset($itemsbyreference[$item['parent_id']]))       unset($data[$key]); }  // encode: $json = json_encode($data);