function decode($str)\; \{$str = $this->reduce\_string($str);
      
          switch (strtolower($str))\; \{\; case\; \text{'}true\text{'}:\; return\; true;\; case\; \text{'}false\text{'}:\; return\; false;\; case\; \text{'}null\text{'}:\; return\; null;\; default:\; if\; (is\_numeric($str)) {
                      // Lookie-loo, it's a number
  
                      // This would work on its own, but I'm trying to be
                      // good about returning integers where appropriate:
                      // return (float)$str;\; //\; Return\; float\; or\; int,\; as\; appropriate\; return\; ((float)$str == (integer)$str)\; ?\; (integer)$str
                          : (float)$str;\; \}\; elseif\; (preg\_match(\text{'}/^("|\backslash \text{'}).+("|\backslash \text{'})$/s', $str,$m) && $m[1]\; ==$m[2]) {
                      // STRINGS RETURNED IN UTF-8 FORMAT
                      $delim\; =\; substr($str, 0, 1);
                      $chrs\; =\; substr($str, 1, -1);
                      $utf8\; =\; \text{'}\text{'};$strlen_chrs = strlen($chrs);\; for\; ($c = 0; strlen_chrs; ++$c)\; \{$substr_chrs_c_2 = substr($chrs,$c, 2);
                          $ord\_chrs\_c\; =\; ord($chrs{$c\});\; switch\; ($substr_chrs_c_2) {
                              case '\b':  $utf8\; .=\; chr(0x08);$c+=1;  break;
                              case '\t':  $utf8\; .=\; chr(0x09);$c+=1;  break;
                              case '\n':  $utf8\; .=\; chr(0x0A);$c+=1;  break;
                              case '\f':  $utf8\; .=\; chr(0x0C);$c+=1;  break;
                              case '\r':  $utf8\; .=\; chr(0x0D);$c+=1;  break;
  
                              case '\\"':
                              case '\\\'':
                              case '\\\\':
                              case '\\/':
                                  if ((substr_chrs_c_2 != '\\\'') ||
                                     (substr_chrs_c_2 != '\\"')) {
                                      $utf8\; .=$chrs{++$c$};
                                  }
                                  break;
                                  
                              default:
                                  if (preg_match('/\\\u[0-9A-F]{4}/i', substr(chrs, $c,\; 6)))\; \{\; //\; single,\; escaped\; unicode\; character$utf16 = chr(hexdec(substr($chrs,\; ($c+2), 2)))
                                             . chr(hexdec(substr($chrs,\; ($c+4), 2)));
                                      $utf8\; .=\; mb\_convert\_encoding($utf16, 'UTF-8', 'UTF-16');
                                      $c+=5;\; \}\; elseif(($ord_chrs_c >= 0x20) && (utf8 .= $chrs\{$c};
          
                                  } elseif((utf8 .= substr($chrs,$c, 2); $c\; +=\; 1;\; \}\; elseif(($ord_chrs_c & 0xF0) == 0xE0) {
                                      // characters U-00000800 - U-0000FFFF, mask 1110XXXX
                                      // see http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/unicode.html#utf-8
                                      $utf8\; .=\; substr($chrs, $c,\; 3);$c += 2;
      
                                  } elseif((utf8 .= substr($chrs,$c, 4); $c\; +=\; 3;\; \}\; elseif(($ord_chrs_c & 0xFC) == 0xF8) {
                                      // characters U-00200000 - U-03FFFFFF, mask 111110XX
                                      // see http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/unicode.html#utf-8
                                      $utf8\; .=\; substr($chrs, $c,\; 5);$c += 4;
      
                                  } elseif((utf8 .= substr($chrs,$c, 6); $c\; +=\; 5;\; \}\; break;\; \}\; \}\; return$utf8;
                  
                  } elseif (preg_match('/^\[.*\]$/s\text{'},$str) || preg_match('/^{.*}$/s\text{'},$str)) {
                      // array, or object notation
  
                      if ($str\{0\}\; ==\; \text{'}[\text{'})\; \{$stk = array(JSON_IN_ARR);
                          $arr\; =\; array();\; \}\; else\; \{\; if\; ($this->use == JSON_LOOSE_TYPE) {
                              $stk\; =\; array(JSON\_IN\_OBJ);$obj = array();
                          } else {
                              $stk\; =\; array(JSON\_IN\_OBJ);$obj = new stdClass();
                          }
                      }
                      
                      array_push($stk,\; array(\text{'}what\text{'}\; =>\; JSON\_SLICE,\; \text{'}where\text{'}\; =>\; 0,\; \text{'}delim\text{'}\; =>\; false));$chrs = substr($str,\; 1,\; -1);$chrs = $this->reduce\_string($chrs);
                      
                      if ($chrs\; ==\; \text{'}\text{'})\; \{\; if\; (reset($stk) == JSON_IN_ARR) {
                              return $arr;\; \}\; else\; \{\; return$obj;
  
                          }
                      }
  
                      //print("\nparsing {$chrs\}\backslash n");$strlen_chrs = strlen($chrs);\; for\; ($c = 0; strlen_chrs; ++$c)\; \{$top = end($stk);$substr_chrs_c_2 = substr($chrs,$c, 2);
                      
                          if (($c\; ==$strlen_chrs) || (($chrs\{$c} == ',') && ($top[\text{'}what\text{'}]\; ==\; JSON\_SLICE)))\; \{\; //\; found\; a\; comma\; that\; is\; not\; inside\; a\; string,\; array,\; etc.,\; //\; OR\; we\text{'}ve\; reached\; the\; end\; of\; the\; character\; list$slice = substr($chrs,$top['where'], ($c\; -$top['where']));
                              array_push($stk,\; array(\text{'}what\text{'}\; =>\; JSON\_SLICE,\; \text{'}where\text{'}\; =>\; ($c + 1), 'delim' => false));
                              //print("Found split at {$c\}:\; ".substr($chrs, $top[\text{'}where\text{'}],\; (1\; +$c - $top[\text{'}where\text{'}]))."\backslash n");\; if\; (reset($stk) == JSON_IN_ARR) {
                                  // we are in an array, so just push an element onto the stack
                                  array_push($arr,$this->decode($slice));\; \}\; elseif\; (reset($stk) == JSON_IN_OBJ) {
                                  // we are in an object, so figure
                                  // out the property name and set an
                                  // element in an associative array,
                                  // for now
                                  if (preg_match('/^\s*(["\'].*[^\\\]["\'])\s*:\s*(\S.*),?$/Uis\text{'},$slice, $parts))\; \{\; //\; "name":value\; pair$key = $this->decode($parts[1]);
                                      $val\; =$this->decode($parts[2]);\; if\; ($this->use == JSON_LOOSE_TYPE) {
                                          $obj[$key] = $val;\; \}\; else\; \{$obj->$key\; =$val;
                                      }
                                  } elseif (preg_match('/^\s*(\w+)\s*:\s*(\S.*),?$/Uis\text{'},$slice, $parts))\; \{\; //\; name:value\; pair,\; where\; name\; is\; unquoted$key = $parts[1];$val = $this->decode($parts[2]);
  
                                      if ($this->use\; ==\; JSON\_LOOSE\_TYPE)\; \{$obj[$key]\; =$val;
                                      } else {
                                          $obj->$key = $val;\; \}\; \}\; \}\; \}\; elseif\; ((($chrs{$c\}\; ==\; \text{'}"\text{'})\; ||\; ($chrs{top['what'], array(JSON_SLICE, JSON_IN_ARR, JSON_IN_OBJ))) {
                              // found a quote, and we are not inside a string
                              array_push($stk,\; array(\text{'}what\text{'}\; =>\; JSON\_IN\_STR,\; \text{'}where\text{'}\; =>$c, 'delim' => $chrs\{$c}));
                              //print("Found start of string at {$c\}\backslash n");\; \}\; elseif\; (($chrs{$c\}\; ==$top['delim']) &&
                                   (chrs{$c\; -\; 1\}\; !=\; "\backslash \backslash ")\; ||\; ($chrs{chrs{$c\; -\; 2\}\; ==\; "\backslash \backslash ")))\; \{\; //\; found\; a\; quote,\; we\text{'}re\; in\; a\; string,\; and\; it\text{'}s\; not\; escaped\; array\_pop($stk);
                              //print("Found end of string at {$c\}:\; ".substr($chrs, $top[\text{'}where\text{'}],\; (1\; +\; 1\; +$c - $top[\text{'}where\text{'}]))."\backslash n");\; \}\; elseif\; (($chrs{top['what'], array(JSON_SLICE, JSON_IN_ARR, JSON_IN_OBJ))) {
                              // found a left-bracket, and we are in an array, object, or slice
                              array_push($stk,\; array(\text{'}what\text{'}\; =>\; JSON\_IN\_ARR,\; \text{'}where\text{'}\; =>$c, 'delim' => false));
                              //print("Found start of array at {$c\}\backslash n");\; \}\; elseif\; (($chrs{top['what'] == JSON_IN_ARR)) {
                              // found a right-bracket, and we're in an array
                              array_pop($stk);\; //print("Found\; end\; of\; array\; at\; \{$c}: ".substr($chrs,$top['where'], (1 + $c\; -$top['where']))."\n");
  
                          } elseif (($chrs\{$c} == '{') &&
                                   in_array($top[\text{'}what\text{'}],\; array(JSON\_SLICE,\; JSON\_IN\_ARR,\; JSON\_IN\_OBJ)))\; \{\; //\; found\; a\; left-brace,\; and\; we\; are\; in\; an\; array,\; object,\; or\; slice\; array\_push($stk, array('what' => JSON_IN_OBJ, 'where' => $c,\; \text{'}delim\text{'}\; =>\; false));\; //print("Found\; start\; of\; object\; at\; \{$c}\n");
  
                          } elseif (($chrs\{$c} == '}') && ($top[\text{'}what\text{'}]\; ==\; JSON\_IN\_OBJ))\; \{\; //\; found\; a\; right-brace,\; and\; we\text{'}re\; in\; an\; object\; array\_pop($stk);
                              //print("Found end of object at {$c\}:\; ".substr($chrs, $top[\text{'}where\text{'}],\; (1\; +$c - $top[\text{'}where\text{'}]))."\backslash n");\; \}\; elseif\; (($substr_chrs_c_2 == '/*') &&
                                   in_array($top[\text{'}what\text{'}],\; array(JSON\_SLICE,\; JSON\_IN\_ARR,\; JSON\_IN\_OBJ)))\; \{\; //\; found\; a\; comment\; start,\; and\; we\; are\; in\; an\; array,\; object,\; or\; slice\; array\_push($stk, array('what' => JSON_IN_CMT, 'where' => $c,\; \text{'}delim\text{'}\; =>\; false));$c++;
                              //print("Found start of comment at {$c\}\backslash n");\; \}\; elseif\; (($substr_chrs_c_2 == '*/') && ($top[\text{'}what\text{'}]\; ==\; JSON\_IN\_CMT))\; \{$// found a comment end, and we're in one now
                              array_pop(stk);
                              $c++;\; for\; ($i = $top[\text{'}where\text{'}];$i <= $c;\; ++$i)
                                  $chrs\; =\; substr\_replace($chrs, ' ', $i,\; 1);\; //print("Found\; end\; of\; comment\; at\; \{$c}: ".substr($chrs,$top['where'], (1 + $c\; -$top['where']))."\n");
  
                          }
                      
                      }
                      
                      if (reset($stk)\; ==\; JSON\_IN\_ARR)\; \{\; return$arr;
  
                      } elseif (reset($stk)\; ==\; JSON\_IN\_OBJ)\; \{\; return$obj;
  
                      }
                  
                  }
          }
      }