how to prnt json data printed from get_file_contents php function

I printed this json from a get_file_contents output.

{"status":"INVALID_CREDENTIALS"}

Now I want to echo the content of "status" and I used

echo $status

but not working. Please help.

source https://stackoverflow.com/questions/61965703/how-to-prnt-json-data-printed-from-get-file-contents-php-function