这就是我的建议

if (!in_array(substr($string, 0, 1), ['{', '[']) || !in_array(substr($string, -1), ['}', ']'])) {
  return false;
} else {
  json_decode($string);
  return (json_last_error() === JSON_ERROR_NONE);
}

使用json_decode“探测”它实际上可能不是最快的方法。如果它是一个嵌套很深的结构，那么实例化大量数组对象来丢弃它们是浪费内存和时间。

所以使用preg_match和RFC4627正则表达式来确保有效性可能会更快:

  // in JS:
  var my_JSON_object = !(/[^,:{}\[\]0-9.\-+Eaeflnr-u \n\r\t]/.test(
         text.replace(/"(\\.|[^"\\])*"/g, '')));

在PHP中也一样:

  return !preg_match('/[^,:{}\\[\\]0-9.\\-+Eaeflnr-u \\n\\r\\t]/',
       preg_replace('/"(\\.|[^"\\\\])*"/', '', $json_string));

不过，我不是一个性能爱好者，不会在这里费心进行基准测试。

再扩展一下这个答案，下面的问题如何:

<?php

    $json = '[{"user_id":13,"username":"stack"},{"user_id":14,"username":"over"}]';
    //$json = '12';

    function isJson($string) {
        json_decode($string);
        if(json_last_error() == JSON_ERROR_NONE) {
            if(substr($string,0,1) == '[' && substr($string,-1) == ']') { return TRUE; }
            else if(substr($string,0,1) == '{' && substr($string,-1) == '}') { return TRUE; }
            else { return FALSE; }
        }
    }

    echo isJson($json);
?>

问题的答案

函数json_last_error返回JSON编码和解码过程中发生的最后一个错误。因此，检查有效JSON的最快方法是

// decode the JSON data
// set second parameter boolean TRUE for associative array output.
$result = json_decode($json);

if (json_last_error() === JSON_ERROR_NONE) {
    // JSON is valid
}

// OR this is equivalent

if (json_last_error() === 0) {
    // JSON is valid
}

注意json_last_error仅在PHP >= 5.3.0中支持。

完整的程序来检查准确的错误

在开发期间了解准确的错误总是好的。下面是基于PHP文档检查确切错误的完整程序。

function json_validate($string)
{
    // decode the JSON data
    $result = json_decode($string);

    // switch and check possible JSON errors
    switch (json_last_error()) {
        case JSON_ERROR_NONE:
            $error = ''; // JSON is valid // No error has occurred
            break;
        case JSON_ERROR_DEPTH:
            $error = 'The maximum stack depth has been exceeded.';
            break;
        case JSON_ERROR_STATE_MISMATCH:
            $error = 'Invalid or malformed JSON.';
            break;
        case JSON_ERROR_CTRL_CHAR:
            $error = 'Control character error, possibly incorrectly encoded.';
            break;
        case JSON_ERROR_SYNTAX:
            $error = 'Syntax error, malformed JSON.';
            break;
        // PHP >= 5.3.3
        case JSON_ERROR_UTF8:
            $error = 'Malformed UTF-8 characters, possibly incorrectly encoded.';
            break;
        // PHP >= 5.5.0
        case JSON_ERROR_RECURSION:
            $error = 'One or more recursive references in the value to be encoded.';
            break;
        // PHP >= 5.5.0
        case JSON_ERROR_INF_OR_NAN:
            $error = 'One or more NAN or INF values in the value to be encoded.';
            break;
        case JSON_ERROR_UNSUPPORTED_TYPE:
            $error = 'A value of a type that cannot be encoded was given.';
            break;
        default:
            $error = 'Unknown JSON error occured.';
            break;
    }

    if ($error !== '') {
        // throw the Exception or exit // or whatever :)
        exit($error);
    }

    // everything is OK
    return $result;
}

使用有效的JSON INPUT进行测试

$json = '[{"user_id":13,"username":"stack"},{"user_id":14,"username":"over"}]';
$output = json_validate($json);
print_r($output);

有效的输出

Array
(
    [0] => stdClass Object
        (
            [user_id] => 13
            [username] => stack
        )

    [1] => stdClass Object
        (
            [user_id] => 14
            [username] => over
        )
)

使用无效JSON进行测试

$json = '{background-color:yellow;color:#000;padding:10px;width:650px;}';
$output = json_validate($json);
print_r($output);

无效的输出

Syntax error, malformed JSON.

额外注意(PHP >= 5.2 && PHP < 5.3.0)

由于PHP 5.2中不支持json_last_error，因此可以检查编码或解码是否返回布尔值FALSE。这里有一个例子

// decode the JSON data
$result = json_decode($json);
if ($result === FALSE) {
    // JSON is invalid
}

在GuzzleHttp:

/**
 * Wrapper for json_decode that throws when an error occurs.
 *
 * @param string $json    JSON data to parse
 * @param bool $assoc     When true, returned objects will be converted
 *                        into associative arrays.
 * @param int    $depth   User specified recursion depth.
 * @param int    $options Bitmask of JSON decode options.
 *
 * @return mixed
 * @throws \InvalidArgumentException if the JSON cannot be decoded.
 * @link http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.json-decode.php
 */
function json_decode($json, $assoc = false, $depth = 512, $options = 0)
{
    $data = \json_decode($json, $assoc, $depth, $options);
    if (JSON_ERROR_NONE !== json_last_error()) {
        throw new \InvalidArgumentException(
            'json_decode error: ' . json_last_error_msg());
    }

    return $data;
}

/**
 * Wrapper for JSON encoding that throws when an error occurs.
 *
 * @param mixed $value   The value being encoded
 * @param int    $options JSON encode option bitmask
 * @param int    $depth   Set the maximum depth. Must be greater than zero.
 *
 * @return string
 * @throws \InvalidArgumentException if the JSON cannot be encoded.
 * @link http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.json-encode.php
 */
function json_encode($value, $options = 0, $depth = 512)
{
    $json = \json_encode($value, $options, $depth);
    if (JSON_ERROR_NONE !== json_last_error()) {
        throw new \InvalidArgumentException(
            'json_encode error: ' . json_last_error_msg());
    }

    return $json;
}

function isJson($string) {
    $obj = json_decode($string);
    return json_last_error() === JSON_ERROR_NONE && gettype($obj ) == "object";
}

这是有效的，对于数字不返回true

新的更新

如果JSON很长并且你不需要使用$obj，上面的解决方案就没有很好的性能

如果你只是想检查一下，最好使用下面的函数

function isJson($string) {
    if(is_numeric($string)) return false;
    json_decode($string);
    return json_last_error() === JSON_ERROR_NONE;
}