variable scope / preg_replace_callback question

Hi, Does anyone know of a way of passing other variables to the function being called by preg_replace_callback? For instance, I have the following code: function smarty_compile_lang($tpl_source) { // en.php contains a very large array, $_lang include_once '/home/test/en.php'; global $_lang; return preg_replace_callback('/##(.+?)##/', '_compile_lang', $tpl_source); } function _compile_lang($key){ // If I include $_lang here then it gets // loaded again and again - bad for performance as it is _very_ large return $_lang[$key[1]]; } // End _compile_lang Somehow I need to make $_lang global, or pass it through the function preg_replace_callback as an arguement for _compile_lang() - which I don't think is possible? What can I do? I've tried a global statement everywhere I can think of... and I don't want to include en.php outside the functions, as it'll be included then whether the templates are being compiled or not. I'm guessing that I may want to look at a higher level of abstraction from these functions, as even if I have the include in the current place, it means that every time a template is compiled it gets reloaded (though that's not as bad as every time preg_replace_callback() finds something) whereas the best way would be to load it once per script invocation - and then only when the templates wer being compiled... Suggestions? TIA, Peter.