finding variables and expanding them

i have a case where i am reading a file which might have variables in it (eg. $name). i don't necessarily know the name of the variables, i just know that if there is one which begins with a $, i want to be able to expand it. Now, is there a way to expand this and still keep the contents of that file in a variable. i've been playing around with ereg_replace, but i can't seem to use an eval or ${}. $buffer = ereg_replace("\\$[^[:space:]]*","eval('\\1')",$buffer); $buffer = ereg_replace("\\$[^[:space:]]*","${'\\1'}",$buffer); does anyone know of a way to do this? i appreciate the help. -- ~darcy w. christ Elegant Communications Inc. 416.362.9772 x222 | 416.362.8324 fax