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5 years ago
I improved my previous varexport().

<?php
/**
 * PHP var_export() with short array syntax (square brackets) indented 2 spaces.
 *
 * NOTE: The only issue is when a string value has `=>\n[`, it will get converted to `=> [`
 * @link https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.var-export.php
 */
function varexport($expression, $return=FALSE) {
    $export = var_export($expression, TRUE);
    $patterns = [
        "/array \(/" => '[',
        "/^([ ]*)\)(,?)$/m" => '$1]$2',
        "/=>[ ]?\n[ ]+\[/" => '=> [',
        "/([ ]*)(\'[^\']+\') => ([\[\'])/" => '$1$2 => $3',
    ];
    $export = preg_replace(array_keys($patterns), array_values($patterns), $export);
    if ((bool)$return) return $export; else echo $export;
}

$array = [
    'str' => 'Test
       spaces',
       0 => 33,
       1 => TRUE,
       [3,4,'d',[]],
    'arr' => [
        'text with spaces' => '[Tes\'t"s":
 => [
 => 
  [
   {
      spaces',
    ],
    "str2" => "Test's'
 } spaces",
    'arr2' => [
        'text with spaces' => [
            'arr3' => [
                'text with spaces' => 'Te": "st \' => [
      spaces',
            ],
        ],
    ],
];
varexport($array);
// Result:
```
[
  'str' => 'Test
       spaces',
  0 => 33,
  1 => true,
  2 => [
    0 => 3,
    1 => 4,
    2 => 'd',
    3 => [
    ],
  ],
  'arr' => [
    'text with spaces' => '[Tes\'t"s":
 => [
 => [
   {
      spaces',
  ],
  'str2' => 'Test\'s\'
 } spaces',
  'arr2' => [
    'text with spaces' => [
      'arr3' => [
        'text with spaces' => 'Te": "st \' => [
      spaces',
      ],
    ],
  ],
]
```
NOTE: The only issue is when a string value has `=>\n[`, it will get converted to `=> [`
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