sub decode
{
    my ($path,$href) = @_;

    unless (-e $path) {
        return 0;
    }

    my ($json_data,@jarr);
    convert_file_to_arr($path,\@jarr); # inserts lines as elements of array
    $json_data = (join "",@jarr);
    %{$href} = %{JSON::PP->new->decode($json_data)};
    return 1; 
}