CODE EXAMPLE FOR JAVASCRIPT

codeigniter 3 return json response

//do the edit in your javascript

$('.signinform').submit(function() { 
   $(this).ajaxSubmit({ 
       type : "POST",
       //set the data type
       dataType:'json',
       url: 'index.php/user/signin', // target element(s) to be updated with server response 
       cache : false,
       //check this in Firefox browser
       success : function(response){ console.log(response); alert(response)},
       error: onFailRegistered
   });        
   return false; 
}); 


//controller function

public function signin() {
    $arr = array('a' => 1, 'b' => 2, 'c' => 3, 'd' => 4, 'e' => 5);    

   //add the header here
    header('Content-Type: application/json');
    echo json_encode( $arr );
}