This is how I would approach such an issue with php. This assumes it would be run through eval or written to file and included. Obviously to make this valid php

This is how I would approach such an issue with php. This assumes it would be run through eval or written to file and included. Obviously to make this valid php I would replace { with Array( and } with ) -- but I decided to stick to the spec above for arguments sake. $parsed = str_replace('{', '{"', '{'.str_replace(Array('[', ']'), Array('" => {', ''), $string)) .str_repeat('}', substr_count($string, '[')+1);