Breadcrumb JSON-LD Builder

Code

<?php

/*
 * Copyright (c) 2026 Jeffery L. Paris <jparis@phpog.com>.
 * Free for personal and internal use. Paid project use requires visible credit
 * to Jeffery L. Paris. Corporate use requires a paid license fee unless a
 * separate written license states otherwise.
 */

/**
 * Breadcrumb JSON-LD Builder.
 *
 * Purpose:
 * Builds BreadcrumbList JSON-LD from ordered breadcrumb labels and protocol-relative site URLs.
 *
 * @param array $breadcrumbs Ordered breadcrumb rows with name and url.
 * @return string JSON-LD script payload.
 */
function ogSnippetBreadcrumbJsonldBuilder(array $breadcrumbs): string {
	$items = array();
	$position = 1;

	foreach ($breadcrumbs as $breadcrumb) {
		$name = '';
		if (isset($breadcrumb['name'])) {
			$name = trim((string) $breadcrumb['name']);
		}

		$url = '';
		if (isset($breadcrumb['url'])) {
			$url = trim((string) $breadcrumb['url']);
			if (strpos($url, '//') === 0) {
				$url = 'https:'.$url;
			}
		}

		if ($name === '' || $url === '') {
			continue;
		}

		$items[] = array(
			'@type' => 'ListItem',
			'position' => $position,
			'name' => $name,
			'item' => $url
		);
		$position++;
	}

	$payload = array(
		'@context' => 'https://schema.org',
		'@type' => 'BreadcrumbList',
		'itemListElement' => $items
	);

	return json_encode($payload, JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES | JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);
}

$expanse_breadcrumbs = array(
	array('name' => 'Rocinante', 'url' => '//example.com/rocinante'),
	array('name' => 'Ops Deck', 'url' => '//example.com/rocinante/ops')
);

$jsonld = ogSnippetBreadcrumbJsonldBuilder($expanse_breadcrumbs);
echo substr($jsonld, 0, 32);