Script for http://stackoverflow.com/q/13361053

so-13361053.php

#!/usr/bin/env php
<?php

$filename = ($argc > 1 ? $argv[1] : 'composer.json');
$content = str_replace('\\\\', '\\\\\\\\', file_get_contents($filename));

if (null === ($dependencies = json_decode($content, true))) {
    throw new Exception(json_last_error());
}

$dependencies['require']['friendsofsymfony/user-bundle'] = '*';

file_put_contents(
    $filename,
    str_replace('\\\\\\\\', '\\\\', json_encode($dependencies))
);