My Parse Ini Implementation in PHP

myParseIni.php

function myParseIni($iniStr, $processSections = false) {
  
  // this will split on lines and then remove comments
  $lines = preg_grep('|^\s*;|', preg_split('/$\R?^/m', $iniStr), PREG_GREP_INVERT);
  $results = array();
  $section = null;
  foreach ($lines as $line) {
//    print $line;
    $matches = array();
    if ( $processSections && preg_match('/^\s*\[\s*([^\s:]+)\s*(?::\s*(\S+))?\s*\]\s*$/', $line, $matches) ) { 
      $sectionName = $matches[1];

      if ( count($matches) > 2 ) {
        print "FOUND EXT " . print_r($matches[1], true) . "\n";
        if ( ! isset($results[$matches[2]]) ) {
          throw new Exception("attempt to extend class '$matches[2]' but it wasn't defined " . print_r($results, true));
        }
        // this is an extension
        $section = $results[$matches[2]];
        $results[$sectionName] =& $section;
        //print "EXTENDS $matches[2]\n";
      } else {
        print "CREATING SECTION $sectionName \n";
        $results[$sectionName] = array();
        $section =& $results[$sectionName];
      }
    } else if ( preg_match('/^\s*([^=\s]+)\s*=\s*(.*)$/', $line, $matches) ) {
      //print "KEY=$matches[1] VAL=$matches[2] SECTION=[$section]\n";
      $chain = explode('.', $matches[1]);
      $value = $matches[2];
      //if ( is_array($section) ) {
        if ( $processSections ) {
          if ( is_array($section) ) {
            $current =& $section;
          } else {
            continue;
          }
        } else {
          $current =& $results;
        }

        // let's make sure the value is of the correct type.
        if ( preg_match('|^\s*null\s*$|i', $value) ) {
          $value = null;
        } else if ( preg_match('|^\s*true\s*$|i', $value) ) {
          $value = TRUE;
        } else if ( preg_match('|^\s*false\s*$|i', $value) ) {
          $value = false;
        } else if ( is_numeric($value) ) {
          $value = 0 + $value;
        } else if ( preg_match('|^\s*"(.*)"\s*$|', $value, $strMatch) ) {
          $value = $strMatch[1];
        }

        for ( $i = 0; $i < count($chain) - 1; $i++ ) {
          $link = $chain[$i];
          //print "looking for prop $link in obj\n";
          if ( isset($current[$link]) ) {
            $current =& $current[$link];
          } else {
            $current[$link] = array();
            $current =& $current[$link];
          }
        }
        $finalPropName = $chain[count($chain) - 1];
        if ( preg_match('|\[\]$|', $finalPropName) ) {
          $finalPropName = preg_replace('|\[\]|', '', $finalPropName);
          if ( isset($current[$finalPropName]) ) {
            $current[$current[$finalPropName]][] = $value;
          } else {
            $current[$finalPropName] = array($value); 
          }
        } else {
          $current[$finalPropName] = $value;
        }       
 //print "setting $matches[1] to $matches[2] with " . print_r($current, true) . " with prop " . $finalProp . "\n"; 
        // ok, now we know where we are, let's set it.
       // $current[$chain[count($chain) - 1]] = $matches[2]; // value
      //} // we have a section
    }
  }
  //print_r($results);
  return $results;
}