$input = "**The input string**";
// Remove the escaped new lines
$jsonString = str_replace("\\n", "\n", substr($input, strpos($input, "data: ")+5));
$jsonString = substr($jsonString, 0, strlen($jsonString) - 1);
// Convert the equals, semicolons and remove the escaped backslash
$jsonString = str_replace(";", ",", $jsonString);
$jsonString = str_replace("=", ":", $jsonString);
$jsonString = str_replace('\\', '', $jsonString);
$matches = array();
// Use regex to get json key-value
if(preg_match_all('/(\w+)\s*\:\s*(.+)\s*\,/m', $jsonString, $matches,PREG_SET_ORDER, 0)){
// Iterate the matches and enclose key and value into double quotes
foreach($matches as $item){
// Enclose the value if isn't a number or a date
if(strpos(trim($item[2]), '"') !== 0 && !is_numeric($item[2])){
$item[2] = '"'.$item[2].'"';
}
// Replace in json string
$jsonString = str_replace($item[0], '"'.$item[1].'"'.' : '.$item[2].',', $jsonString);
}
}
// Remove last comma
$jsonString = substr($jsonString, 0, strlen($jsonString) - 3) . '}';
// Transform json string to object
$jsonObject = json_decode($jsonString);
// Show the json string
echo($jsonString);
// Display the object
var_dump($jsonObject);
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