PHP-Array in JSON-String

<?php
$a = array(&#39;<foo>&#39;,"&#39;bar&#39;",&#39;"baz"&#39;,&#39;&blong&&#39;, "\xc3\xa9");

echo "Normal: ",  json_encode($a), "\n";
echo "Tags: ",    json_encode($a, JSON_HEX_TAG), "\n";
echo "Apos: ",    json_encode($a, JSON_HEX_APOS), "\n";
echo "Quot: ",    json_encode($a, JSON_HEX_QUOT), "\n";
echo "Amp: ",     json_encode($a, JSON_HEX_AMP), "\n";
echo "Unicode: ", json_encode($a, JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE), "\n";
echo "All: ",     json_encode($a, JSON_HEX_TAG | JSON_HEX_APOS | JSON_HEX_QUOT | JSON_HEX_AMP | JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE), "\n\n";

$b = array();

echo "Empty array output as array: ", json_encode($b), "\n";
echo "Empty array output as object: ", json_encode($b, JSON_FORCE_OBJECT), "\n\n";

$c = array(array(1,2,3));

echo "Non-associative array output as array: ", json_encode($c), "\n";
echo "Non-associative array output as object: ", json_encode($c, JSON_FORCE_OBJECT), "\n\n";

$d = array(&#39;foo&#39; => &#39;bar&#39;, &#39;baz&#39; => &#39;long&#39;);

echo "Associative array always output as object: ", json_encode($d), "\n";
echo "Associative array always output as object: ", json_encode($d, JSON_FORCE_OBJECT), "\n\n";
?>

Normal: ["<foo>","&#39;bar&#39;","\"baz\"","&blong&","\u00e9"]
Tags: ["\u003Cfoo\u003E","&#39;bar&#39;","\"baz\"","&blong&","\u00e9"]
Apos: ["<foo>","\u0027bar\u0027","\"baz\"","&blong&","\u00e9"]
Quot: ["<foo>","&#39;bar&#39;","\u0022baz\u0022","&blong&","\u00e9"]
Amp: ["<foo>","&#39;bar&#39;","\"baz\"","\u0026blong\u0026","\u00e9"]
Unicode: ["<foo>","&#39;bar&#39;","\"baz\"","&blong&","é"]
All: ["\u003Cfoo\u003E","\u0027bar\u0027","\u0022baz\u0022","\u0026blong\u0026","é"]

Empty array output as array: []
Empty array output as object: {}

Non-associative array output as array: [[1,2,3]]
Non-associative array output as object: {"0":{"0":1,"1":2,"2":3}}

Associative array always output as object: {"foo":"bar","baz":"long"}
Associative array always output as object: {"foo":"bar","baz":"long"}