PHP Snippet to return a string like print_r($var, true) - but more readable and with JSON parsing

print_r_tree.php

<?php

function print_r_tree(&$var, $level=0)
{
    $result = '';
    if (is_array($var) || is_object($var)) {
        $result = gettype($var) . ' <span style="color: #aaa;">(' . count($var) . ' entries)</span>' . PHP_EOL;
        foreach ($var as $key=>$value) {
            $result .= str_repeat('|', $level) . '+<strong>' . $key . '</strong>: ' . print_r_tree($value, $level+1);
        }
    } else {
        if (is_string($var)) {
            $result = '"' . $var . '"';
        } else {
            $result = $var;
        }
        $result .= ' <span style="color: #aaa;">(' . gettype($var);
        if (is_string($var)) $result .= ', ' . strlen($var) . ' characters';
        $result .= ')</span>' . PHP_EOL;
        if (is_string($var) && $var{0}=='{' && !is_null($var2 = json_decode($var, true))) {
            $result .= '<span style="color: #88a;">' . str_repeat('|', $level) . '# JSON DATA: ' . print_r_tree($var2, $level) . '</span>';
        }
    }
    return $result;
}