php - Remove quotes from json_encoded ints prior to 5.3.3 -

when using json_encode, annoyingly automatically coverts int keys strings. example, if have array:

$a = array();  $a[12] = 15; echo json_encode($a); {"12":15} //notice quotes around 12 

after searching so, solution use

json_encode($array,json_numeric_check) 

however, available in php > 5.3.3. production server i'm stuck using 5.3.2.

surely there work around?

so problem here mixing approach data structure , json_encode() trying make best guess how interpret array, since in json, there not such concept of non-zero based, numerically indexed array.

if example, had zero-based numeric array continuous number sequence, json_encode() encode a numerically-indexed array of format:

[value1, value2, ...] 

since don't have zero-based array, data structure being interpreted object structure , given string key (the available key type object in json) of format:

{"key", value} 

so seems need make mind trying represent in array. need numerically based array, or need object encoding.