$re = '/^(\s*)(?!window\.)(\w+\.)?(\w+)(\s*)([:=])(\s*)function(\s*)\(/m';
$str = 'this.foo = function() { // this.foo = function foo() {
something.foo : function() { // something.foo : function foo() {
window.foo = function() { // window.foo = function() {
this.foo[i] : function() { // this.foo[i] : function() {
var foo = function() { // var foo = function foo() {
foo: function() { // foo: function foo() {
foo :function() { // foo :function foo() {
foo:function() { // foo:function foo() {
foo : function() { // foo : function foo() {
foo = function() { // foo = function foo() {
foo = function () {} // foo = function foo () {}
foo = function() { // foo = function foo() {';
$subst = "$1$2$3$4$5$6function $3$7(";
$result = preg_replace($re, $subst, $str);
echo "The result of the substitution is ".$result;
Please keep in mind that these code samples are automatically generated and are not guaranteed to work. If you find any syntax errors, feel free to submit a bug report. For a full regex reference for PHP, please visit: http://php.net/manual/en/ref.pcre.php