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The Carbon instances can be encoded to and decoded from JSON. Since the version 2.4, we explicitly require the PHP JSON extension. It should have no impact as this extension is bundled by default with PHP. If the extension is disabled, be aware you will be locked on 2.3. But you still can use --ignore-platform-reqs on composer update/install to upgrade then polyfill the missing JsonSerializable interface by including JsonSerializable.php.

php

$dt = Carbon::create(2012, 12, 25, 20, 30, 00, 'Europe/Moscow');
echo json_encode($dt);                    // "2012-12-25T16:30:00.000000Z"

$json = '{"date":"2012-12-25 20:30:00.000000","timezone_type":3,"timezone":"Europe\/Moscow"}';
$dt = Carbon::__set_state(json_decode($json, true));
echo $dt->format('Y-m-d\TH:i:s.uP T');    // 2012-12-25T20:30:00.000000+04:00 MSK

You can use settings(['toJsonFormat' => $format]) to customize the serialization.

php

$dt = Carbon::create(2012, 12, 25, 20, 30, 00, 'Europe/Moscow')->settings([
    'toJsonFormat' => function ($date) {
        return $date->getTimestamp();
    },
]);

echo json_encode($dt);    // 1356453000

If you want to apply this globally, first consider using factory, else or if you use Carbon 1 you can use:

php

$dt = Carbon::create(2012, 12, 25, 20, 30, 00, 'Europe/Moscow');
Carbon::serializeUsing(function ($date) {
    return $date->valueOf();
});
echo json_encode($dt);    // 1356453000000

// Call serializeUsing with null to reset the serializer:
Carbon::serializeUsing(null);

The jsonSerialize() method allows you to call the function given to Carbon::serializeUsing() or the result of toJson() if no custom serialization specified.

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