regex101: PCRE (Legacy) Match Workspace

\s*any whitespace character, repeated any number of times

Comment: white spaces

Comment: ######################### KEYS START ##########################

Non-Capturing Group(?: # We\'ll use this to make keys optional (?P<keys> # named group: keys \d+ # match digits | # or "(?(?=\\\\")..|[^"])*" # match string between "", works even 4 escaped ones "hello \" world" | # or \'(?(?=\\\\\')..|[^\'])*\' # match string between \'\', same as above :p | # or \$\w+(?:\[(?:[^[\]]|(?R))*\])* # match variables $_POST, $var, $var["foo"], $var["foo"]["bar"], $foo[$bar["fail"]] ) # close group: keys ########################## KEYS END ########################## \s* # white spaces => # match => )?

?repeats the group contents below at most once:

Comment: We\'ll use this to make keys optional

Group keys(?P<keys> # named group: keys \d+ # match digits | # or "(?(?=\\\\")..|[^"])*" # match string between "", works even 4 escaped ones "hello \" world" | # or \'(?(?=\\\\\')..|[^\'])*\' # match string between \'\', same as above :p | # or \$\w+(?:\[(?:[^[\]]|(?R))*\])* # match variables $_POST, $var, $var["foo"], $var["foo"]["bar"], $foo[$bar["fail"]] )

1st Alternative # named group: keys \d+ # match digits

Comment: named group: keys

\d+a digit, repeated at least once

Comment: match digits

2nd Alternative # or "(?(?=\\\\")..|[^"])*" # match string between "", works even 4 escaped ones "hello \" world"

Comment: or

"the literal text "

Condition(?(?=\\\\")..|[^"])*

*repeats the group contents below any number of times:

Uses the first branch if the lookaround matches

Positive Lookahead(?=\\\\")

\\the literal \ (92₁₀ / 134₈ / 5C₁₆)

"the literal " (34₁₀ / 42₈ / 22₁₆)

If the condition is true, match this branch:..

.any character

Otherwise, match this branch:[^"]

Negated Character Class[^"]

"the literal " (34₁₀ / 42₈ / 22₁₆)

" the literal text "

Comment: match string between "", works even 4 escaped ones "hello \" world"

3rd Alternative # or \'(?(?=\\\\\')..|[^\'])*\' # match string between \'\', same as above :p

Comment: or

\'the literal ' (39₁₀ / 47₈ / 27₁₆)

Condition(?(?=\\\\\')..|[^\'])*

*repeats the group contents below any number of times:

Uses the first branch if the lookaround matches

Positive Lookahead(?=\\\\\')

\\the literal \ (92₁₀ / 134₈ / 5C₁₆)

\'the literal ' (39₁₀ / 47₈ / 27₁₆)

If the condition is true, match this branch:..

.any character

Otherwise, match this branch:[^\']

Negated Character Class[^\']

\'the literal ' (39₁₀ / 47₈ / 27₁₆)

Comment: match string between \'\', same as above :p

4th Alternative # or \$\w+(?:\[(?:[^[\]]|(?R))*\])* # match variables $_POST, $var, $var["foo"], $var["foo"]["bar"], $foo[$bar["fail"]]

Comment: or

\$the literal $ (36₁₀ / 44₈ / 24₁₆)

\w+any word character, repeated at least once

Non-Capturing Group(?:\[(?:[^[\]]|(?R))*\])*

*repeats the group contents below any number of times:

\[the literal [ (91₁₀ / 133₈ / 5B₁₆)

Non-Capturing Group(?:[^[\]]|(?R))*

*repeats the group contents below any number of times:

1st Alternative[^[\]]

Negated Character Class[^[\]]

[the literal [ (91₁₀ / 133₈ / 5B₁₆)

\]the literal ] (93₁₀ / 135₈ / 5D₁₆)

2nd Alternative(?R)

(?R)recurses into the entire pattern

\]the literal ] (93₁₀ / 135₈ / 5D₁₆)

Comment: match variables $_POST, $var, $var["foo"], $var["foo"]["bar"], $foo[$bar["fail"]]

Comment: close group: keys

Comment: ######################### KEYS END ##########################

\s*any whitespace character, repeated any number of times

Comment: white spaces

=> the literal text =>

Comment: match =>

Comment: make keys optional

\s*any whitespace character, repeated any number of times

Comment: white spaces

Comment: ######################### VALUES START ##########################

Group values(?P<values> # named group: values \d+ # match digits | # or "(?(?=\\\\")..|[^"])*" # match string between "", works even 4 escaped ones "hello \" world" | # or \'(?(?=\\\\\')..|[^\'])*\' # match string between \'\', same as above :p | # or \$\w+(?:\[(?:[^[\]]|(?R))*\])* # match variables $_POST, $var, $var["foo"], $var["foo"]["bar"], $foo[$bar["fail"]] | # or array\s*$(?:[^()]|(?R))*$ # match an array() | # or \[(?:[^[\]]|(?R))*\] # match an array, new PHP array syntax: [1, 3, 5] is the same as array(1,3,5) | # or (?:function\s+)?\w+\s* # match functions: helloWorld, function name (?:$(?:[^()]|(?R))*$) # match function parameters (wut), (), (array(1,2,4)) (?:(?:\s*use\s*$(?:[^()]|(?R))*$\s*)? # match use(&$var), use($foo, $bar) (optionally) \{(?:[^{}]|(?R))*\} # match { whatever} )?;? # match ; (optionally) )

1st Alternative # named group: values \d+ # match digits

Comment: named group: values

\d+a digit, repeated at least once

Comment: match digits

2nd Alternative # or "(?(?=\\\\")..|[^"])*" # match string between "", works even 4 escaped ones "hello \" world"

Comment: or

"the literal text "

Condition(?(?=\\\\")..|[^"])*

*repeats the group contents below any number of times:

Uses the first branch if the lookaround matches

Positive Lookahead(?=\\\\")

If the condition is true, match this branch:..

Otherwise, match this branch:[^"]

" the literal text "

Comment: match string between "", works even 4 escaped ones "hello \" world"

3rd Alternative # or \'(?(?=\\\\\')..|[^\'])*\' # match string between \'\', same as above :p

4th Alternative # or \$\w+(?:\[(?:[^[\]]|(?R))*\])* # match variables $_POST, $var, $var["foo"], $var["foo"]["bar"], $foo[$bar["fail"]]

5th Alternative # or array\s*$(?:[^()]|(?R))*$ # match an array()

6th Alternative # or \[(?:[^[\]]|(?R))*\] # match an array, new PHP array syntax: [1, 3, 5] is the same as array(1,3,5)

7th Alternative # or (?:function\s+)?\w+\s* # match functions: helloWorld, function name (?:$(?:[^()]|(?R))*$) # match function parameters (wut), (), (array(1,2,4)) (?:(?:\s*use\s*$(?:[^()]|(?R))*$\s*)? # match use(&$var), use($foo, $bar) (optionally) \{(?:[^{}]|(?R))*\} # match { whatever} )?;? # match ; (optionally)

Comment: close group: values

Comment: ######################### VALUES END ##########################

\s*any whitespace character, repeated any number of times

Comment: white spaces

Global pattern flags

x modifier: extended. Ignores unescaped whitespace and comments outside character classes

s modifier: single line. Allows a dot to match line terminators

m modifier: multiline. Causes ^ and $ to match the start and end of each line, not only the start and end of the string

g modifier: global. Finds all matches instead of stopping after the first

Search reference

Regular Expression

\s*                                     # white spaces
########################## KEYS START ##########################
(?:                                     # We\'ll use this to make keys optional
(?P<keys>                               # named group: keys
\d+                                     # match digits
|                                       # or
"(?(?=\\\\")..|[^"])*"                  # match string between "", works even 4 escaped ones "hello \" world"
|                                       # or
\'(?(?=\\\\\')..|[^\'])*\'              # match string between \'\', same as above :p
|                                       # or
\$\w+(?:\[(?:[^[\]]|(?R))*\])*          # match variables $_POST, $var, $var["foo"], $var["foo"]["bar"], $foo[$bar["fail"]]
)                                       # close group: keys
########################## KEYS END ##########################
\s*                                     # white spaces
=>                                      # match =>
)?                                      # make keys optional
\s*                                     # white spaces
########################## VALUES START ##########################
(?P<values>                             # named group: values
\d+                                     # match digits
|                                       # or
"(?(?=\\\\")..|[^"])*"                  # match string between "", works even 4 escaped ones "hello \" world"
|                                       # or
\'(?(?=\\\\\')..|[^\'])*\'              # match string between \'\', same as above :p
|                                       # or
\$\w+(?:\[(?:[^[\]]|(?R))*\])*          # match variables $_POST, $var, $var["foo"], $var["foo"]["bar"], $foo[$bar["fail"]]
|                                       # or
array\s*\((?:[^()]|(?R))*\)             # match an array()
|                                       # or
\[(?:[^[\]]|(?R))*\]                    # match an array, new PHP array syntax: [1, 3, 5] is the same as array(1,3,5)
|                                       # or
(?:function\s+)?\w+\s*                  # match functions: helloWorld, function name
(?:\((?:[^()]|(?R))*\))                 # match function parameters (wut), (), (array(1,2,4))
(?:(?:\s*use\s*\((?:[^()]|(?R))*\)\s*)? # match use(&$var), use($foo, $bar) (optionally)
\{(?:[^{}]|(?R))*\}                     # match { whatever}
)?;?                                    # match ; (optionally)
)                                       # close group: values
########################## VALUES END ##########################
\s*                                     # white spaces

New

0  => "a", 123 => 123, 1234, 'got problem ?', 
 "a" => $GlobalScopeVar, 
$test_further => function test($noway){echo "this works too !!!";}, 
"yellow" => "blue",
 "b" => array("nested"=>array(1,2,3), "nested"=>array(1,2,3),"nested"=>array(1,2,3)), 
"c" => function() use (&$VAR) { return isset($VAR) ? "defined" : "undefined" ; },
  "bug",$var =  $_POST["test];
 "fixed", 
"mwahahahaa" => "Yeaaaah",
$_POST["hello"][\'world\'] => array("is", "actually", "An array !")