Getting answer in object form after using array_diff

Question

I am comparing 2 arrays but after applying array_diff it returns the result in the object form. Have a look at the below code and result

<?php
        $schedule =  ['Monday'=>['12:00','01:20'],'Tuesday'=>['04:00','12:00','20:00']];
        $booked_slots =  ['Monday'=>['12:00'],'Tuesday'=>['20:00']];
        
        $diff = [];
        foreach ($schedule as $day =>  $times) {
            $day_wise_slots = isset($booked_slots[$day]) ? $booked_slots[$day] : [];
            $diff[$day] = array_diff($times, $day_wise_slots);
        }
        
        echo json_encode($diff);
?>

Result : {"Monday":{"1":"01:20"},"Tuesday":["04:00","12:00"]}

Desired Output: {"Monday":["01:20"],"Tuesday":["04:00","12:00"]}

Answer 1

array_diff perserves keys of original array. You need to reinitialize array to not have array keys in json. You can use array_values to get a reinitialized array keys

<?php
       $schedule =  ['Monday'=>['12:00','01:20'],'Tuesday'=>['04:00','12:00','20:00']];
       $booked_slots =  ['Monday'=>['12:00'],'Tuesday'=>['20:00']];
       
       $diff = [];
       foreach ($schedule as $day =>  $times) {
           $day_wise_slots = isset($booked_slots[$day]) ? $booked_slots[$day] : [];
           $diff[$day] = array_values(array_diff($times, $day_wise_slots));
       }
       
       echo json_encode($diff);
?>