gistfile1.txt

/*
Matt Browne
The function by 1franck to allow comments works except if there is a comment at the very beginning of the file. Here's a modified version (only the regex was changed) that accounts for that.
*/

function json_clean_decode($json, $assoc = false, $depth = 512, $options = 0) {
    // search and remove comments like /* */ and //
    $json = preg_replace("#(/\*([^*]|[\r\n]|(\*+([^*/]|[\r\n])))*\*+/)|([\s\t]//.*)|(^//.*)#", '', $json);
    
    if(version_compare(phpversion(), '5.4.0', '>=')) {
        $json = json_decode($json, $assoc, $depth, $options);
    }
    elseif(version_compare(phpversion(), '5.3.0', '>=')) {
        $json = json_decode($json, $assoc, $depth);
    }
    else {
        $json = json_decode($json, $assoc);
    }

    return $json;
}