Bind function parameters with create_function ('currying')

Hi all, I have a function which is my callback for preg_replace_callback - and it needs to be able to access a string and an object outside of itself. When I call create_function I can insert the string, but without serializing the object I can't figure out how to make it available to the function without making it global, which seems nasty. I've tried 'currying' the function - creating a new function out of it with the string and object parameters bound, but have the same problem - I can't get the object into the function. Can anyone point me towards a good solution? I guess I could also create a class with the one function, but that seems a wee bit messy to me. Any ideas? -- Rob Desbois Eml: rob.desbois@gmail.com