diff --git a/reference/json/constants.xml b/reference/json/constants.xml
index 952445d26f..6f83ea4ba8 100644
--- a/reference/json/constants.xml
+++ b/reference/json/constants.xml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
-<!-- $Revision: 1.8 $ -->
+<!-- $Revision: 1.9 $ -->
 
 <appendix xml:id="json.constants" xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">
  &reftitle.constants;
@@ -55,6 +55,71 @@
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>
  </variablelist>
+
+ <para>
+  The following constants can be combined to form options for
+  <function>json_encode</function>. They are all available as of
+  PHP 5.3.0.
+ </para>
+ <variablelist>
+  <varlistentry>
+   <term>
+    <constant>JSON_HEX_TAG</constant>
+     (<type>integer</type>)
+   </term>
+   <listitem>
+    <simpara>
+     All &lt; and &gt; are converted to \u003C and \u003E.
+    </simpara>
+   </listitem>
+  </varlistentry>
+  <varlistentry>
+   <term>
+    <constant>JSON_HEX_AMP</constant>
+     (<type>integer</type>)
+   </term>
+   <listitem>
+    <simpara>
+     All &amp;s are converted to \u0026.
+    </simpara>
+   </listitem>
+  </varlistentry>
+  <varlistentry>
+   <term>
+    <constant>JSON_HEX_APOS</constant>
+     (<type>integer</type>)
+   </term>
+   <listitem>
+    <simpara>
+     All ' are converted to \u0027.
+    </simpara>
+   </listitem>
+  </varlistentry>
+  <varlistentry>
+   <term>
+    <constant>JSON_HEX_QUOT</constant>
+     (<type>integer</type>)
+   </term>
+   <listitem>
+    <simpara>
+     All " are converted to \u0022.
+    </simpara>
+   </listitem>
+  </varlistentry>
+  <varlistentry>
+   <term>
+    <constant>JSON_FORCE_OBJECT</constant>
+     (<type>integer</type>)
+   </term>
+   <listitem>
+    <simpara>
+     Outputs an object rather than an array when a non-associative array is
+     used. Especially useful when the recipient of the output is expecting
+     an object and the array is empty.
+    </simpara>
+   </listitem>
+  </varlistentry>
+ </variablelist>
 </appendix>
 
 <!-- Keep this comment at the end of the file
diff --git a/reference/json/functions/json-encode.xml b/reference/json/functions/json-encode.xml
index 34f406fa04..aa6325006d 100644
--- a/reference/json/functions/json-encode.xml
+++ b/reference/json/functions/json-encode.xml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
-<!-- $Revision: 1.8 $ -->
+<!-- $Revision: 1.9 $ -->
 <refentry xml:id="function.json-encode" xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook">
  <refnamediv>
   <refname>json_encode</refname>
@@ -39,10 +39,11 @@
      <term><parameter>options</parameter></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
-       Bitmask consisting of <constant>PHP_JSON_HEX_QUOT</constant>,
-       <constant>PHP_JSON_HEX_TAG</constant>,
-       <constant>PHP_JSON_HEX_AMP</constant>,
-       <constant>PHP_JSON_HEX_APOS</constant>. Defaults to 0.
+       Bitmask consisting of <constant>JSON_HEX_QUOT</constant>,
+       <constant>JSON_HEX_TAG</constant>,
+       <constant>JSON_HEX_AMP</constant>,
+       <constant>JSON_HEX_APOS</constant>,
+       <constant>JSON_FORCE_OBJECT</constant>. Defaults to 0.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>
@@ -72,7 +73,13 @@
       <row>
        <entry>5.2.1</entry>
        <entry>
-        Added support to JSON encode basic types
+        Added support to JSON encode basic types.
+       </entry>
+      </row>
+      <row>
+       <entry>5.3.0</entry>
+       <entry>
+        The <parameter>options</parameter> parameter was added.
        </entry>
       </row>
      </tbody>
@@ -99,6 +106,51 @@ echo json_encode($arr);
     <screen>
 <![CDATA[
 {"a":1,"b":2,"c":3,"d":4,"e":5}
+]]>
+    </screen>
+   </example>
+
+   <example>
+    <title>A <function>json_encode</function> example showing all the options in action</title>
+    <programlisting role="php">
+<![CDATA[
+<?php
+$a = array('<foo>',"'bar'",'"baz"','&blong&');
+
+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($a,JSON_HEX_AMP), "\n";
+echo "All: ",    json_encode($a,JSON_HEX_TAG|JSON_HEX_APOS|JSON_HEX_QUOT|JSON_HEX_AMP), "\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";
+?>
+]]>
+    </programlisting>
+    &example.outputs;
+    <screen>
+<![CDATA[
+Normal: ["<foo>","'bar'","\"baz\"","&blong&"]
+Tags: ["\u003Cfoo\u003E","'bar'","\"baz\"","&blong&"]
+Apos: ["<foo>","\u0027bar\u0027","\"baz\"","&blong&"]
+Quot: ["<foo>","'bar'","\u0022baz\u0022","&blong&"]
+Amp: ["<foo>","'bar'","\"baz\"","\u0026blong\u0026"]
+All: ["\u003Cfoo\u003E","\u0027bar\u0027","\u0022baz\u0022","\u0026blong\u0026"]
+
+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}}
 ]]>
     </screen>
    </example>