json_encode() escaping forward slashes

I'm pulling JSON from Instagram:

$instagrams = json_decode($response)->data;

Then parsing variables into a PHP array to restructure the data, then re-encoding and caching the file:

file_put_contents($cache,json_encode($results));

When I open the cache file all my forward slashes "/" are being escaped:

http:\/\/distilleryimage4.instagram.com\/410e7...

I gather from my searches that json_encode() automatically does this...is there a way to disable it?

Yes, you only need to use the JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES flag.

json_encode($str, JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES);

Example Demo

$data = array(    "app_name"     => env('APP_NAME'),    "queue"        => 'update-order',    "payload"      => [        "entity_id"     => $entity_id,        "order_id"      => $request['order_id'],        "delivery_date" => $orderDate[0]->order_delivery_date,        "template_id"   => $templateId->id,        "endpoint"      => env('APP_URL')    ],);$response = json_encode($data, JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES);

Example Demo

<?php
/*
 * Escaping the reverse-solidus character ("/", slash) is optional in JSON.
 *
 * This can be controlled with the JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES flag constant in PHP.
 *
 * @link http://stackoverflow.com/a/10210433/367456
 */    

$url = 'http://www.example.com/';

echo json_encode($url), "\n";

echo json_encode($url, JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES), "\n";

Example Output:

"http:\/\/www.example.com\/"
"http://www.example.com/"