Rest API response for api inside the extension module appends square bracket

Question

I have a rest api created in php. Sharing a sample here:

public function getApiData(){
$returnData = ["a"=>"A","b"=>"B"];
header("Content-Type: application/json");
// I want to return the data in the json format for which i have two options.
// Option 1:
return $returnData
// Option 2 (if i don't use the option 1 to return):
#jsonResponse = json_encode($returnData,JSON_FORCE_OBJECT);
print_r($jsonResponse);
}

For the option 1 the response is JSON but its just a string for ex:

"{\"a\":\"A\",\"b\":\"B.\"}"

For the option 2 the response is JSON but it's appended with square opening and closing bracket. ex:

{
 "a":"A",
"b":"B"
}[]

Notice that there is an opening and closing bracket in the end. If i use die() or exit; after the print_r statement then those square brackets are remove. But the problem is that i don't want to use both of them.

Is there any option to send pure JSON object in the response of rest API?

Postman response with the option 1

Answer 1

Please do this

public function getApiData(){
$returnData = ["a"=>"A","b"=>"B"];

// Option 2 (if i don't use the option 1 to return):
$jsonResponse = json_encode($returnData,JSON_FORCE_OBJECT);
print_r($jsonResponse);

}