diff --git a/db.inc.php b/db.inc.php
index b9447a50..cdce0489 100644
--- a/db.inc.php
+++ b/db.inc.php
@@ -160,9 +160,9 @@ function sRandomChars($length = 15,$pattern="23456789abcdefghijkmnpqrstuvwxyz")
     for($i=0;$i<$length;$i++)
     {   
         if(isset($key))
-            $key .= $pattern{mt_rand(0,$patternlength)};
+            $key .= $pattern[mt_rand(0,$patternlength)];
         else
-            $key = $pattern{mt_rand(0,$patternlength)};
+            $key = $pattern[mt_rand(0,$patternlength)];
     }
     return $key;
 }
diff --git a/include/pear/Console/Getopt.php b/include/pear/Console/Getopt.php
index 7966d1ac..b2381628 100644
--- a/include/pear/Console/Getopt.php
+++ b/include/pear/Console/Getopt.php
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ class Console_Getopt {
          * erroneous POSIX fix.
          */
         if ($version < 2) {
-            if (isset($args[0]{0}) && $args[0]{0} != '-') {
+            if (isset($args[0][0]) && $args[0][0] != '-') {
                 array_shift($args);
             }
         }
@@ -120,10 +120,10 @@ class Console_Getopt {
                 break;
             }
 
-            if ($arg{0} != '-' || (strlen($arg) > 1 && $arg{1} == '-' && !$long_options)) {
+            if ($arg[0] != '-' || (strlen($arg) > 1 && $arg[1] == '-' && !$long_options)) {
                 $non_opts = array_merge($non_opts, array_slice($args, $i));
                 break;
-            } elseif (strlen($arg) > 1 && $arg{1} == '-') {
+            } elseif (strlen($arg) > 1 && $arg[1] == '-') {
                 $error = Console_Getopt::_parseLongOption(substr($arg, 2), $long_options, $opts, $args);
                 if (PEAR::isError($error))
                     return $error;
@@ -144,17 +144,17 @@ class Console_Getopt {
     function _parseShortOption($arg, $short_options, &$opts, &$args)
     {
         for ($i = 0; $i < strlen($arg); $i++) {
-            $opt = $arg{$i};
+            $opt = $arg[$i];
             $opt_arg = null;
 
             /* Try to find the short option in the specifier string. */
-            if (($spec = strstr($short_options, $opt)) === false || $arg{$i} == ':')
+            if (($spec = strstr($short_options, $opt)) === false || $arg[$i] == ':')
             {
                 return PEAR::raiseError("Console_Getopt: unrecognized option -- $opt");
             }
 
-            if (strlen($spec) > 1 && $spec{1} == ':') {
-                if (strlen($spec) > 2 && $spec{2} == ':') {
+            if (strlen($spec) > 1 && $spec[1] == ':') {
+                if (strlen($spec) > 2 && $spec[2] == ':') {
                     if ($i + 1 < strlen($arg)) {
                         /* Option takes an optional argument. Use the remainder of
                            the arg string if there is anything left. */
@@ -199,7 +199,7 @@ class Console_Getopt {
 
             /* Check that the options uniquely matches one of the allowed
                options. */
-            if ($opt_rest != '' && $opt{0} != '=' &&
+            if ($opt_rest != '' && $opt[0] != '=' &&
                 $i + 1 < count($long_options) &&
                 $opt == substr($long_options[$i+1], 0, $opt_len)) {
                 return PEAR::raiseError("Console_Getopt: option --$opt is ambiguous");
diff --git a/include/pear/DB/common.php b/include/pear/DB/common.php
index f0cfcb7c..3f4436de 100644
--- a/include/pear/DB/common.php
+++ b/include/pear/DB/common.php
@@ -247,7 +247,7 @@ class DB_common extends PEAR
     function quoteString($string)
     {
         $string = $this->quote($string);
-        if ($string{0} == "'") {
+        if ($string[0] == "'") {
             return substr($string, 1, -1);
         }
         return $string;
diff --git a/include/pear/Date/Span.php b/include/pear/Date/Span.php
index 32b7bab0..ca989bfd 100644
--- a/include/pear/Date/Span.php
+++ b/include/pear/Date/Span.php
@@ -304,9 +304,9 @@ class Date_Span
             $pm = 'am';
             $day = $hour = $minute = $second = 0;
             for ($i = 0; $i < strlen($format); $i++) {
-                $char = $format{$i};
+                $char = $format[$i];
                 if ($char == '%') {
-                    $nextchar = $format{++$i};
+                    $nextchar = $format[++$i];
                     switch ($nextchar) {
                         case 'c':
                             $str .= '%d, %d:%d:%d';
@@ -635,9 +635,9 @@ class Date_Span
         }
         $output = '';
         for ($i = 0; $i < strlen($format); $i++) {
-            $char = $format{$i};
+            $char = $format[$i];
             if ($char == '%') {
-                $nextchar = $format{++$i};
+                $nextchar = $format[++$i];
                 switch ($nextchar) {
                     case 'C':
                         $output .= sprintf(
diff --git a/include/pear/HTML/AJAX/JSON.php b/include/pear/HTML/AJAX/JSON.php
index c799c609..8be4c707 100644
--- a/include/pear/HTML/AJAX/JSON.php
+++ b/include/pear/HTML/AJAX/JSON.php
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ class HTML_AJAX_JSON
         if(function_exists('mb_convert_encoding'))
             return mb_convert_encoding($utf16, 'UTF-8', 'UTF-16');
         
-        $bytes = (ord($utf16{0}) << 8) | ord($utf16{1});
+        $bytes = (ord($utf16[0]) << 8) | ord($utf16[1]);
 
         switch(true) {
             case ((0x7F & $bytes) == $bytes):
@@ -213,17 +213,17 @@ class HTML_AJAX_JSON
             case 2:
                 // return a UTF-16 character from a 2-byte UTF-8 char
                 // see: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/unicode.html#utf-8
-                return chr(0x07 & (ord($utf8{0}) >> 2))
-                     . chr((0xC0 & (ord($utf8{0}) << 6))
-                         | (0x3F & ord($utf8{1})));
+                return chr(0x07 & (ord($utf8[0]) >> 2))
+                     . chr((0xC0 & (ord($utf8[0]) << 6))
+                         | (0x3F & ord($utf8[1])));
                 
             case 3:
                 // return a UTF-16 character from a 3-byte UTF-8 char
                 // see: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/unicode.html#utf-8
-                return chr((0xF0 & (ord($utf8{0}) << 4))
-                         | (0x0F & (ord($utf8{1}) >> 2)))
-                     . chr((0xC0 & (ord($utf8{1}) << 6))
-                         | (0x7F & ord($utf8{2})));
+                return chr((0xF0 & (ord($utf8[0]) << 4))
+                         | (0x0F & (ord($utf8[1]) >> 2)))
+                     . chr((0xC0 & (ord($utf8[1]) << 6))
+                         | (0x7F & ord($utf8[2])));
         }
 
         // ignoring UTF-32 for now, sorry
@@ -268,7 +268,7 @@ class HTML_AJAX_JSON
                 */
                 for ($c = 0; $c < $strlen_var; ++$c) {
                     
-                    $ord_var_c = ord($var{$c});
+                    $ord_var_c = ord($var[$c]);
                     
                     switch (true) {
                         case $ord_var_c == 0x08:
@@ -291,18 +291,18 @@ class HTML_AJAX_JSON
                         case $ord_var_c == 0x2F:
                         case $ord_var_c == 0x5C:
                             // double quote, slash, slosh
-                            $ascii .= '\\'.$var{$c};
+                            $ascii .= '\\'.$var[$c];
                             break;
                             
                         case (($ord_var_c >= 0x20) && ($ord_var_c <= 0x7F)):
                             // characters U-00000000 - U-0000007F (same as ASCII)
-                            $ascii .= $var{$c};
+                            $ascii .= $var[$c];
                             break;
                         
                         case (($ord_var_c & 0xE0) == 0xC0):
                             // characters U-00000080 - U-000007FF, mask 110XXXXX
                             // see http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/unicode.html#utf-8
-                            $char = pack('C*', $ord_var_c, ord($var{$c + 1}));
+                            $char = pack('C*', $ord_var_c, ord($var[$c + 1]));
                             $c += 1;
                             $utf16 = $this->utf82utf16($char);
                             $ascii .= sprintf('\u%04s', bin2hex($utf16));
@@ -312,8 +312,8 @@ class HTML_AJAX_JSON
                             // characters U-00000800 - U-0000FFFF, mask 1110XXXX
                             // see http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/unicode.html#utf-8
                             $char = pack('C*', $ord_var_c,
-                                         ord($var{$c + 1}),
-                                         ord($var{$c + 2}));
+                                         ord($var[$c + 1]),
+                                         ord($var[$c + 2]));
                             $c += 2;
                             $utf16 = $this->utf82utf16($char);
                             $ascii .= sprintf('\u%04s', bin2hex($utf16));
@@ -323,9 +323,9 @@ class HTML_AJAX_JSON
                             // characters U-00010000 - U-001FFFFF, mask 11110XXX
                             // see http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/unicode.html#utf-8
                             $char = pack('C*', $ord_var_c,
-                                         ord($var{$c + 1}),
-                                         ord($var{$c + 2}),
-                                         ord($var{$c + 3}));
+                                         ord($var[$c + 1]),
+                                         ord($var[$c + 2]),
+                                         ord($var[$c + 3]));
                             $c += 3;
                             $utf16 = $this->utf82utf16($char);
                             $ascii .= sprintf('\u%04s', bin2hex($utf16));
@@ -335,10 +335,10 @@ class HTML_AJAX_JSON
                             // characters U-00200000 - U-03FFFFFF, mask 111110XX
                             // see http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/unicode.html#utf-8
                             $char = pack('C*', $ord_var_c,
-                                         ord($var{$c + 1}),
-                                         ord($var{$c + 2}),
-                                         ord($var{$c + 3}),
-                                         ord($var{$c + 4}));
+                                         ord($var[$c + 1]),
+                                         ord($var[$c + 2]),
+                                         ord($var[$c + 3]),
+                                         ord($var[$c + 4]));
                             $c += 4;
                             $utf16 = $this->utf82utf16($char);
                             $ascii .= sprintf('\u%04s', bin2hex($utf16));
@@ -348,11 +348,11 @@ class HTML_AJAX_JSON
                             // characters U-04000000 - U-7FFFFFFF, mask 1111110X
                             // see http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/unicode.html#utf-8
                             $char = pack('C*', $ord_var_c,
-                                         ord($var{$c + 1}),
-                                         ord($var{$c + 2}),
-                                         ord($var{$c + 3}),
-                                         ord($var{$c + 4}),
-                                         ord($var{$c + 5}));
+                                         ord($var[$c + 1]),
+                                         ord($var[$c + 2]),
+                                         ord($var[$c + 3]),
+                                         ord($var[$c + 4]),
+                                         ord($var[$c + 5]));
                             $c += 5;
                             $utf16 = $this->utf82utf16($char);
                             $ascii .= sprintf('\u%04s', bin2hex($utf16));
@@ -518,7 +518,7 @@ class HTML_AJAX_JSON
                     for ($c = 0; $c < $strlen_chrs; ++$c) {
                     
                         $substr_chrs_c_2 = substr($chrs, $c, 2);
-                        $ord_chrs_c = ord($chrs{$c});
+                        $ord_chrs_c = ord($chrs[$c]);
                         
                         switch (true) {
                             case $substr_chrs_c_2 == '\b':
@@ -548,7 +548,7 @@ class HTML_AJAX_JSON
                             case $substr_chrs_c_2 == '\\/':
                                 if (($delim == '"' && $substr_chrs_c_2 != '\\\'') ||
                                    ($delim == "'" && $substr_chrs_c_2 != '\\"')) {
-                                    $utf8 .= $chrs{++$c};
+                                    $utf8 .= $chrs[++$c];
                                 }
                                 break;
                                 
@@ -561,7 +561,7 @@ class HTML_AJAX_JSON
                                 break;
         
                             case ($ord_chrs_c >= 0x20) && ($ord_chrs_c <= 0x7F):
-                                $utf8 .= $chrs{$c};
+                                $utf8 .= $chrs[$c];
                                 break;
         
                             case ($ord_chrs_c & 0xE0) == 0xC0:
@@ -608,7 +608,7 @@ class HTML_AJAX_JSON
                 } elseif (preg_match('/^\[.*\]$/s', $str) || preg_match('/^\{.*\}$/s', $str)) {
                     // array, or object notation
 
-                    if ($str{0} == '[') {
+                    if ($str[0] == '[') {
                         $stk = array(SERVICES_JSON_IN_ARR);
                         $arr = array();
                     } else {
@@ -647,7 +647,7 @@ class HTML_AJAX_JSON
                         $top = end($stk);
                         $substr_chrs_c_2 = substr($chrs, $c, 2);
                     
-                        if (($c == $strlen_chrs) || (($chrs{$c} == ',') && ($top['what'] == SERVICES_JSON_SLICE))) {
+                        if (($c == $strlen_chrs) || (($chrs[$c] == ',') && ($top['what'] == SERVICES_JSON_SLICE))) {
                             // found a comma that is not inside a string, array, etc.,
                             // OR we've reached the end of the character list
                             $slice = substr($chrs, $top['where'], ($c - $top['where']));
@@ -687,37 +687,37 @@ class HTML_AJAX_JSON
 
                             }
 
-                        } elseif ((($chrs{$c} == '"') || ($chrs{$c} == "'")) && ($top['what'] != SERVICES_JSON_IN_STR)) {
+                        } elseif ((($chrs[$c] == '"') || ($chrs[$c] == "'")) && ($top['what'] != SERVICES_JSON_IN_STR)) {
                             // found a quote, and we are not inside a string
-                            array_push($stk, array('what' => SERVICES_JSON_IN_STR, 'where' => $c, 'delim' => $chrs{$c}));
+                            array_push($stk, array('what' => SERVICES_JSON_IN_STR, 'where' => $c, 'delim' => $chrs[$c]));
                             //print("Found start of string at {$c}\n");
 
-                        } elseif (($chrs{$c} == $top['delim']) &&
+                        } elseif (($chrs[$c] == $top['delim']) &&
                                  ($top['what'] == SERVICES_JSON_IN_STR) &&
-                                 (($chrs{$c - 1} != '\\') ||
-                                 ($chrs{$c - 1} == '\\' && $chrs{$c - 2} == '\\'))) {
+                                 (($chrs[$c - 1] != '\\') ||
+                                 ($chrs[$c - 1] == '\\' && $chrs[$c - 2] == '\\'))) {
                             // found a quote, we're in a string, and it's not escaped
                             array_pop($stk);
                             //print("Found end of string at {$c}: ".substr($chrs, $top['where'], (1 + 1 + $c - $top['where']))."\n");
 
-                        } elseif (($chrs{$c} == '[') &&
+                        } elseif (($chrs[$c] == '[') &&
                                  in_array($top['what'], array(SERVICES_JSON_SLICE, SERVICES_JSON_IN_ARR, SERVICES_JSON_IN_OBJ))) {
                             // found a left-bracket, and we are in an array, object, or slice
                             array_push($stk, array('what' => SERVICES_JSON_IN_ARR, 'where' => $c, 'delim' => false));
                             //print("Found start of array at {$c}\n");
 
-                        } elseif (($chrs{$c} == ']') && ($top['what'] == SERVICES_JSON_IN_ARR)) {
+                        } elseif (($chrs[$c] == ']') && ($top['what'] == SERVICES_JSON_IN_ARR)) {
                             // found a right-bracket, and we're in an array
                             array_pop($stk);
                             //print("Found end of array at {$c}: ".substr($chrs, $top['where'], (1 + $c - $top['where']))."\n");
 
-                        } elseif (($chrs{$c} == '{') &&
+                        } elseif (($chrs[$c] == '{') &&
                                  in_array($top['what'], array(SERVICES_JSON_SLICE, SERVICES_JSON_IN_ARR, SERVICES_JSON_IN_OBJ))) {
                             // found a left-brace, and we are in an array, object, or slice
                             array_push($stk, array('what' => SERVICES_JSON_IN_OBJ, 'where' => $c, 'delim' => false));
                             //print("Found start of object at {$c}\n");
 
-                        } elseif (($chrs{$c} == '}') && ($top['what'] == SERVICES_JSON_IN_OBJ)) {
+                        } elseif (($chrs[$c] == '}') && ($top['what'] == SERVICES_JSON_IN_OBJ)) {
                             // found a right-brace, and we're in an object
                             array_pop($stk);
                             //print("Found end of object at {$c}: ".substr($chrs, $top['where'], (1 + $c - $top['where']))."\n");
diff --git a/include/pear/HTML/QuickForm/date.php b/include/pear/HTML/QuickForm/date.php
index b1382a05..28f1ce0a 100644
--- a/include/pear/HTML/QuickForm/date.php
+++ b/include/pear/HTML/QuickForm/date.php
@@ -310,7 +310,7 @@ class HTML_QuickForm_date extends HTML_QuickForm_group
         $locale    =& $this->_locale[$this->_options['language']];
         $backslash =  false;
         for ($i = 0, $length = strlen($this->_options['format']); $i < $length; $i++) {
-            $sign = $this->_options['format']{$i};
+            $sign = $this->_options['format'][$i];
             if ($backslash) {
                 $backslash  = false;
                 $separator .= $sign;
diff --git a/include/pear/HTTP.php b/include/pear/HTTP.php
index 3301702e..cd736f1d 100644
--- a/include/pear/HTTP.php
+++ b/include/pear/HTTP.php
@@ -326,7 +326,7 @@ class HTTP
                 $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] : $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'];
         }
         
-        if ($url{0} == '/') {
+        if ($url[0] == '/') {
             return $server . $url;
         }
         
diff --git a/include/pear/OS/Guess.php b/include/pear/OS/Guess.php
index 5a661154..8854754d 100644
--- a/include/pear/OS/Guess.php
+++ b/include/pear/OS/Guess.php
@@ -248,7 +248,7 @@ class OS_Guess
         $cpp = popen("/usr/bin/cpp $tmpfile", "r");
         $major = $minor = 0;
         while ($line = fgets($cpp, 1024)) {
-            if ($line{0} == '#' || trim($line) == '') {
+            if ($line[0] == '#' || trim($line) == '') {
                 continue;
             }
             if (list($major, $minor) = explode(' ', trim($line))) {
diff --git a/include/pear/PEAR/Autoloader.php b/include/pear/PEAR/Autoloader.php
index 8991a012..148fc98f 100644
--- a/include/pear/PEAR/Autoloader.php
+++ b/include/pear/PEAR/Autoloader.php
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ class PEAR_Autoloader extends PEAR
         $methods = get_class_methods($classname);
         foreach ($methods as $method) {
             // don't import priviate methods and constructors
-            if ($method{0} != '_' && $method != $classname) {
+            if ($method[0] != '_' && $method != $classname) {
                 $this->_method_map[$method] = $obj;
             }
         }
diff --git a/include/pear/PEAR/Builder.php b/include/pear/PEAR/Builder.php
index 4bb3b405..9561640f 100644
--- a/include/pear/PEAR/Builder.php
+++ b/include/pear/PEAR/Builder.php
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ class PEAR_Builder extends PEAR_Common
 
         $ret = true;
         while (($ent = readdir($d)) !== false) {
-            if ($ent{0} == '.')
+            if ($ent[0] == '.')
                 continue;
 
             $full = $dirname . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $ent;
diff --git a/include/pear/PEAR/Command.php b/include/pear/PEAR/Command.php
index 8cb0714e..2c6d4f73 100644
--- a/include/pear/PEAR/Command.php
+++ b/include/pear/PEAR/Command.php
@@ -244,7 +244,7 @@ class PEAR_Command
             $GLOBALS['_PEAR_Command_commandlist'] = array();
         }
         while ($entry = readdir($dp)) {
-            if ($entry{0} == '.' || substr($entry, -4) != '.xml') {
+            if ($entry[0] == '.' || substr($entry, -4) != '.xml') {
                 continue;
             }
             $class = "PEAR_Command_".substr($entry, 0, -4);
diff --git a/include/pear/PEAR/Command/Common.php b/include/pear/PEAR/Command/Common.php
index 1b18a938..e3c18691 100644
--- a/include/pear/PEAR/Command/Common.php
+++ b/include/pear/PEAR/Command/Common.php
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ class PEAR_Command_Common extends PEAR
         while (list($option, $info) = each($this->commands[$command]['options'])) {
             $larg = $sarg = '';
             if (isset($info['arg'])) {
-                if ($info['arg']{0} == '(') {
+                if ($info['arg'][0] == '(') {
                     $larg = '==';
                     $sarg = '::';
                     $arg = substr($info['arg'], 1, -1);
@@ -223,7 +223,7 @@ class PEAR_Command_Common extends PEAR
             $help = "Options:\n";
             foreach ($this->commands[$command]['options'] as $k => $v) {
                 if (isset($v['arg'])) {
-                    if ($v['arg']{0} == '(') {
+                    if ($v['arg'][0] == '(') {
                         $arg = substr($v['arg'], 1, -1);
                         $sapp = " [$arg]";
                         $lapp = "[=$arg]";
diff --git a/include/pear/PEAR/Command/Config.php b/include/pear/PEAR/Command/Config.php
index 9836bf23..c57f31c3 100644
--- a/include/pear/PEAR/Command/Config.php
+++ b/include/pear/PEAR/Command/Config.php
@@ -322,7 +322,7 @@ and uninstall).
         $root = preg_replace(array('!\\\\+!', '!/+!', "!$ds2+!"),
                              array('/', '/', '/'),
                             $root);
-        if ($root{0} != '/') {
+        if ($root[0] != '/') {
             if (isset($options['windows'])) {
                 if (!preg_match('/^[A-Za-z]:/', $root)) {
                     return PEAR::raiseError('Root directory must be an absolute path beginning ' .
@@ -344,7 +344,7 @@ and uninstall).
         }
         $params[1] = realpath($params[1]);
         $config = &new PEAR_Config($params[1], '#no#system#config#', false, false);
-        if ($root{strlen($root) - 1} == '/') {
+        if ($root[strlen($root) - 1] == '/') {
             $root = substr($root, 0, strlen($root) - 1);
         }
         $config->noRegistry();
diff --git a/include/pear/PEAR/Common.php b/include/pear/PEAR/Common.php
index 7bcbec4f..e3476868 100644
--- a/include/pear/PEAR/Common.php
+++ b/include/pear/PEAR/Common.php
@@ -611,7 +611,7 @@ class PEAR_Common extends PEAR
             foreach ($methods as $method) {
                 $function = "$class::$method";
                 $key = "function;$function";
-                if ($method{0} == '_' || !strcasecmp($method, $class) ||
+                if ($method[0] == '_' || !strcasecmp($method, $class) ||
                     isset($this->pkginfo['provides'][$key])) {
                     continue;
                 }
@@ -622,7 +622,7 @@ class PEAR_Common extends PEAR
 
         foreach ($srcinfo['declared_functions'] as $function) {
             $key = "function;$function";
-            if ($function{0} == '_' || isset($this->pkginfo['provides'][$key])) {
+            if ($function[0] == '_' || isset($this->pkginfo['provides'][$key])) {
                 continue;
             }
             if (!strstr($function, '::') && strncasecmp($function, $pn, $pnl)) {
diff --git a/include/pear/PEAR/Config.php b/include/pear/PEAR/Config.php
index c13c74fe..6dae3c3a 100644
--- a/include/pear/PEAR/Config.php
+++ b/include/pear/PEAR/Config.php
@@ -2058,7 +2058,7 @@ class PEAR_Config extends PEAR
             if (OS_WINDOWS && preg_match('/^[a-z]:/i', $path)) {
                 if (preg_match('/^[a-z]:/i', $prepend)) {
                     $prepend = substr($prepend, 2);
-                } elseif ($prepend{0} != '\\') {
+                } elseif ($prepend[0] != '\\') {
                     $prepend = "\\$prepend";
                 }
                 $path = substr($path, 0, 2) . $prepend . substr($path, 2);
diff --git a/include/pear/PEAR/DependencyDB.php b/include/pear/PEAR/DependencyDB.php
index db8856a6..ac160632 100644
--- a/include/pear/PEAR/DependencyDB.php
+++ b/include/pear/PEAR/DependencyDB.php
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ class PEAR_DependencyDB
             if ($depdb['_version'] < $this->_version) {
                 $this->rebuildDB();
             }
-            if ($depdb['_version']{0} > $this->_version{0}) {
+            if ($depdb['_version'][0] > $this->_version[0]) {
                 return PEAR::raiseError('Dependency database is version ' .
                     $depdb['_version'] . ', and we are version ' .
                     $this->_version . ', cannot continue');
diff --git a/include/pear/PEAR/Downloader.php b/include/pear/PEAR/Downloader.php
index 1368bc04..a8a41d70 100644
--- a/include/pear/PEAR/Downloader.php
+++ b/include/pear/PEAR/Downloader.php
@@ -1078,7 +1078,7 @@ class PEAR_Downloader extends PEAR_Common
             if (OS_WINDOWS && preg_match('/^[a-z]:/i', $path)) {
                 if (preg_match('/^[a-z]:/i', $prepend)) {
                     $prepend = substr($prepend, 2);
-                } elseif ($prepend{0} != '\\') {
+                } elseif ($prepend[0] != '\\') {
                     $prepend = "\\$prepend";
                 }
                 $path = substr($path, 0, 2) . $prepend . substr($path, 2);
diff --git a/include/pear/PEAR/Installer.php b/include/pear/PEAR/Installer.php
index bdb59160..888d6632 100644
--- a/include/pear/PEAR/Installer.php
+++ b/include/pear/PEAR/Installer.php
@@ -222,7 +222,7 @@ class PEAR_Installer extends PEAR_Downloader
             if (empty($os)) {
                 $os = new OS_Guess();
             }
-            if (strlen($atts['platform']) && $atts['platform']{0} == '!') {
+            if (strlen($atts['platform']) && $atts['platform'][0] == '!') {
                 $negate = true;
                 $platform = substr($atts['platform'], 1);
             } else {
diff --git a/include/pear/PEAR/Installer/Role.php b/include/pear/PEAR/Installer/Role.php
index b97b8080..ff528ff7 100644
--- a/include/pear/PEAR/Installer/Role.php
+++ b/include/pear/PEAR/Installer/Role.php
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ class PEAR_Installer_Role
             return PEAR::raiseError("registerRoles: opendir($dir) failed");
         }
         while ($entry = readdir($dp)) {
-            if ($entry{0} == '.' || substr($entry, -4) != '.xml') {
+            if ($entry[0] == '.' || substr($entry, -4) != '.xml') {
                 continue;
             }
             $class = "PEAR_Installer_Role_".substr($entry, 0, -4);
diff --git a/include/pear/PEAR/PackageFile.php b/include/pear/PEAR/PackageFile.php
index 41842de5..b65c8a5c 100644
--- a/include/pear/PEAR/PackageFile.php
+++ b/include/pear/PEAR/PackageFile.php
@@ -99,12 +99,12 @@ class PEAR_PackageFile
      */
     function &parserFactory($version)
     {
-        if (!in_array($version{0}, array('1', '2'))) {
+        if (!in_array($version[0], array('1', '2'))) {
             $a = false;
             return $a;
         }
-        include_once 'PEAR/PackageFile/Parser/v' . $version{0} . '.php';
-        $version = $version{0};
+        include_once 'PEAR/PackageFile/Parser/v' . $version[0] . '.php';
+        $version = $version[0];
         $class = "PEAR_PackageFile_Parser_v$version";
         $a = new $class;
         return $a;
@@ -126,12 +126,12 @@ class PEAR_PackageFile
      */
     function &factory($version)
     {
-        if (!in_array($version{0}, array('1', '2'))) {
+        if (!in_array($version[0], array('1', '2'))) {
             $a = false;
             return $a;
         }
-        include_once 'PEAR/PackageFile/v' . $version{0} . '.php';
-        $version = $version{0};
+        include_once 'PEAR/PackageFile/v' . $version[0] . '.php';
+        $version = $version[0];
         $class = $this->getClassPrefix() . $version;
         $a = new $class;
         return $a;
diff --git a/include/pear/PEAR/PackageFile/Generator/v1.php b/include/pear/PEAR/PackageFile/Generator/v1.php
index c6968f4e..10a3107a 100644
--- a/include/pear/PEAR/PackageFile/Generator/v1.php
+++ b/include/pear/PEAR/PackageFile/Generator/v1.php
@@ -875,13 +875,13 @@ class PEAR_PackageFile_Generator_v1
                 }
                 //o <install as=..> tags for <file name=... platform=!... install-as=..>
                 if (isset($package['platform'][$file]) &&
-                      $package['platform'][$file]{0} == '!') {
+                      $package['platform'][$file][0] == '!') {
                     $generic[] = $file;
                     continue;
                 }
                 //o <ignore> tags for <file name=... platform=... install-as=..>
                 if (isset($package['platform'][$file]) &&
-                      $package['platform'][$file]{0} != '!') {
+                      $package['platform'][$file][0] != '!') {
                     $genericIgnore[] = $file;
                     continue;
                 }
@@ -890,7 +890,7 @@ class PEAR_PackageFile_Generator_v1
                 if (isset($package['install-as'][$file])) {
                     continue;
                 }
-                if ($platform{0} != '!') {
+                if ($platform[0] != '!') {
                     //o <ignore> tags for <file name=... platform=...>
                     $genericIgnore[] = $file;
                 }
@@ -899,7 +899,7 @@ class PEAR_PackageFile_Generator_v1
                 $oses = $notplatform = $platform = array();
                 foreach ($package['platform'] as $file => $os) {
                     // get a list of oses
-                    if ($os{0} == '!') {
+                    if ($os[0] == '!') {
                         if (isset($oses[substr($os, 1)])) {
                             continue;
                         }
@@ -945,7 +945,7 @@ class PEAR_PackageFile_Generator_v1
                         //  <file name=... platform=!other platform install-as=..>
                         if (isset($package['platform'][$file]) &&
                               $package['platform'][$file] != "!$os" &&
-                              $package['platform'][$file]{0} == '!') {
+                              $package['platform'][$file][0] == '!') {
                             $release[$releaseNum]['filelist']['install'][] =
                                 array(
                                     'attribs' => array(
@@ -970,7 +970,7 @@ class PEAR_PackageFile_Generator_v1
                         //o <ignore> tags for
                         //  <file name=... platform=other platform install-as=..>
                         if (isset($package['platform'][$file]) &&
-                              $package['platform'][$file]{0} != '!' &&
+                              $package['platform'][$file][0] != '!' &&
                               $package['platform'][$file] != $os) {
                             $release[$releaseNum]['filelist']['ignore'][] =
                                 array(
@@ -996,7 +996,7 @@ class PEAR_PackageFile_Generator_v1
                             continue;
                         }
                         //o <ignore> tags for <file name=... platform=other platform>
-                        if ($platform{0} != '!' && $platform != $os) {
+                        if ($platform[0] != '!' && $platform != $os) {
                             $release[$releaseNum]['filelist']['ignore'][] =
                                 array(
                                     'attribs' => array(
diff --git a/include/pear/PEAR/PackageFile/Generator/v2.php b/include/pear/PEAR/PackageFile/Generator/v2.php
index b72a16d1..8a23748f 100644
--- a/include/pear/PEAR/PackageFile/Generator/v2.php
+++ b/include/pear/PEAR/PackageFile/Generator/v2.php
@@ -752,7 +752,7 @@ http://pear.php.net/dtd/package-2.0.xsd',
                     }
                 }
 
-                if (is_string($value) && $value && ($value{strlen($value) - 1} == "\n")) {
+                if (is_string($value) && $value && ($value[strlen($value) - 1] == "\n")) {
                     $value .= str_repeat($this->options['indent'], $this->_tagDepth);
                 }
                 $tmp .= $this->_createXMLTag(array(
@@ -1501,7 +1501,7 @@ class PEAR_PackageFile_Generator_v2_XML_Util {
     function isValidName($string)
     {
         // check for invalid chars
-        if (!preg_match("/^[[:alnum:]_\-.]$/", $string{0})) {
+        if (!preg_match("/^[[:alnum:]_\-.]$/", $string[0])) {
             return PEAR_PackageFile_Generator_v2_XML_Util::raiseError( "XML names may only start with letter or underscore", PEAR_PackageFile_Generator_v2_XML_Util_ERROR_INVALID_START );
         }
         
diff --git a/include/pear/PEAR/PackageFile/v1.php b/include/pear/PEAR/PackageFile/v1.php
index 089ac1c8..2e42fa37 100644
--- a/include/pear/PEAR/PackageFile/v1.php
+++ b/include/pear/PEAR/PackageFile/v1.php
@@ -1192,7 +1192,7 @@ class PEAR_PackageFile_v1
                     $this->_validateError(PEAR_PACKAGEFILE_ERROR_INVALID_FILEROLE,
                         array('file' => $file, 'role' => $fa['role'], 'roles' => PEAR_Common::getFileRoles()));
                 }
-                if ($file{0} == '.' && $file{1} == '/') {
+                if ($file[0] == '.' && $file[1] == '/') {
                     $this->_validateError(PEAR_PACKAGEFILE_ERROR_INVALID_FILENAME,
                         array('file' => $file));
                 }
@@ -1573,7 +1573,7 @@ class PEAR_PackageFile_v1
             foreach ($methods as $method) {
                 $function = "$class::$method";
                 $key = "function;$function";
-                if ($method{0} == '_' || !strcasecmp($method, $class) ||
+                if ($method[0] == '_' || !strcasecmp($method, $class) ||
                     isset($this->_packageInfo['provides'][$key])) {
                     continue;
                 }
@@ -1584,7 +1584,7 @@ class PEAR_PackageFile_v1
 
         foreach ($srcinfo['declared_functions'] as $function) {
             $key = "function;$function";
-            if ($function{0} == '_' || isset($this->_packageInfo['provides'][$key])) {
+            if ($function[0] == '_' || isset($this->_packageInfo['provides'][$key])) {
                 continue;
             }
             if (!strstr($function, '::') && strncasecmp($function, $pn, $pnl)) {
diff --git a/include/pear/PEAR/PackageFile/v2/Validator.php b/include/pear/PEAR/PackageFile/v2/Validator.php
index 8066a521..c48e0f3b 100644
--- a/include/pear/PEAR/PackageFile/v2/Validator.php
+++ b/include/pear/PEAR/PackageFile/v2/Validator.php
@@ -405,7 +405,7 @@ class PEAR_PackageFile_v2_Validator
             foreach ($tags as $i => $tag) {
                 if (!is_array($tag) || !isset($tag['attribs'])) {
                     foreach ($choice['attribs'] as $attrib) {
-                        if ($attrib{0} != '?') {
+                        if ($attrib[0] != '?') {
                             $ret &= $this->_tagHasNoAttribs($choice['tag'],
                                 $context);
                             continue 2;
@@ -413,7 +413,7 @@ class PEAR_PackageFile_v2_Validator
                     }
                 }
                 foreach ($choice['attribs'] as $attrib) {
-                    if ($attrib{0} != '?') {
+                    if ($attrib[0] != '?') {
                         if (!isset($tag['attribs'][$attrib])) {
                             $ret &= $this->_tagMissingAttribute($choice['tag'],
                                 $attrib, $context);
@@ -435,9 +435,9 @@ class PEAR_PackageFile_v2_Validator
             }
             return $ret;
         }
-        $multi = $key{0};
+        $multi = $key[0];
         if ($multi == '+' || $multi == '*') {
-            $ret['multiple'] = $key{0};
+            $ret['multiple'] = $key[0];
             $key = substr($key, 1);
         }
         if (count($attrs = explode('->', $key)) > 1) {
@@ -1025,8 +1025,8 @@ class PEAR_PackageFile_v2_Validator
             foreach ($list['file'] as $i => $file)
             {
                 if (isset($file['attribs']) && isset($file['attribs']['name']) &&
-                      $file['attribs']['name']{0} == '.' &&
-                        $file['attribs']['name']{1} == '/') {
+                      $file['attribs']['name'][0] == '.' &&
+                        $file['attribs']['name'][1] == '/') {
                     // name is something like "./doc/whatever.txt"
                     $this->_invalidFileName($file['attribs']['name']);
                 }
@@ -1973,7 +1973,7 @@ class PEAR_PackageFile_v2_Validator
             foreach ($methods as $method) {
                 $function = "$class::$method";
                 $key = "function;$function";
-                if ($method{0} == '_' || !strcasecmp($method, $class) ||
+                if ($method[0] == '_' || !strcasecmp($method, $class) ||
                     isset($providesret[$key])) {
                     continue;
                 }
@@ -1984,7 +1984,7 @@ class PEAR_PackageFile_v2_Validator
 
         foreach ($srcinfo['declared_functions'] as $function) {
             $key = "function;$function";
-            if ($function{0} == '_' || isset($providesret[$key])) {
+            if ($function[0] == '_' || isset($providesret[$key])) {
                 continue;
             }
             if (!strstr($function, '::') && strncasecmp($function, $pn, $pnl)) {
diff --git a/include/pear/PEAR/Registry.php b/include/pear/PEAR/Registry.php
index 35460bde..fa346ecc 100644
--- a/include/pear/PEAR/Registry.php
+++ b/include/pear/PEAR/Registry.php
@@ -1066,7 +1066,7 @@ class PEAR_Registry extends PEAR
             return array('pear.php.net', 'pecl.php.net', '__uri');
         }
         while ($ent = readdir($dp)) {
-            if ($ent{0} == '.' || substr($ent, -4) != '.reg') {
+            if ($ent[0] == '.' || substr($ent, -4) != '.reg') {
                 continue;
             }
             if ($ent == '__uri.reg') {
@@ -1102,7 +1102,7 @@ class PEAR_Registry extends PEAR
             return $pkglist;
         }
         while ($ent = readdir($dp)) {
-            if ($ent{0} == '.' || substr($ent, -4) != '.reg') {
+            if ($ent[0] == '.' || substr($ent, -4) != '.reg') {
                 continue;
             }
             $pkglist[] = substr($ent, 0, -4);
@@ -1122,7 +1122,7 @@ class PEAR_Registry extends PEAR
             return $pkglist;
         }
         while ($ent = readdir($dp)) {
-            if ($ent{0} == '.' || substr($ent, -4) != '.reg') {
+            if ($ent[0] == '.' || substr($ent, -4) != '.reg') {
                 continue;
             }
             $pkglist[] = substr($ent, 0, -4);
@@ -1977,7 +1977,7 @@ class PEAR_Registry extends PEAR
             }
             if (!isset($components['scheme'])) {
                 if (strpos($components['path'], '/') !== false) {
-                    if ($components['path']{0} == '/') {
+                    if ($components['path'][0] == '/') {
                         return PEAR::raiseError('parsePackageName(): this is not ' .
                             'a package name, it begins with "/" in "' . $param . '"',
                             'invalid', null, null, $param);
diff --git a/include/pear/PEAR/Validate.php b/include/pear/PEAR/Validate.php
index ed8adada..d93bb7cd 100644
--- a/include/pear/PEAR/Validate.php
+++ b/include/pear/PEAR/Validate.php
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@ class PEAR_Validate
                 }
                 $vlen = strlen($test);
                 $majver = substr($name, strlen($name) - $vlen);
-                while ($majver && !is_numeric($majver{0})) {
+                while ($majver && !is_numeric($majver[0])) {
                     $majver = substr($majver, 1);
                 }
                 if ($majver != $test) {
@@ -295,7 +295,7 @@ class PEAR_Validate
                 }
                 if (!$this->_packagexml->getExtends()) {
                     if ($versioncomponents[0] == '1') {
-                        if ($versioncomponents[2]{0} == '0') {
+                        if ($versioncomponents[2][0] == '0') {
                             if ($versioncomponents[2] == '0') {
                                 // version 1.*.0000
                                 $this->_addWarning('version',
@@ -336,7 +336,7 @@ class PEAR_Validate
                 } else {
                     $vlen = strlen($versioncomponents[0] . '');
                     $majver = substr($name, strlen($name) - $vlen);
-                    while ($majver && !is_numeric($majver{0})) {
+                    while ($majver && !is_numeric($majver[0])) {
                         $majver = substr($majver, 1);
                     }
                     if (($versioncomponents[0] != 0) && $majver != $versioncomponents[0]) {
@@ -347,7 +347,7 @@ class PEAR_Validate
                         return true;
                     }
                     if ($versioncomponents[0] == $majver) {
-                        if ($versioncomponents[2]{0} == '0') {
+                        if ($versioncomponents[2][0] == '0') {
                             if ($versioncomponents[2] == '0') {
                                 // version 2.*.0000
                                 $this->_addWarning('version',
@@ -406,7 +406,7 @@ class PEAR_Validate
                 if ($this->_packagexml->getExtends()) {
                     $vlen = strlen($versioncomponents[0] . '');
                     $majver = substr($name, strlen($name) - $vlen);
-                    while ($majver && !is_numeric($majver{0})) {
+                    while ($majver && !is_numeric($majver[0])) {
                         $majver = substr($majver, 1);
                     }
                     if (($versioncomponents[0] != 0) && $majver != $versioncomponents[0]) {
diff --git a/include/pear/System.php b/include/pear/System.php
index 8a2f22f3..f8d1fbb3 100644
--- a/include/pear/System.php
+++ b/include/pear/System.php
@@ -235,7 +235,7 @@ class System
             } elseif($opt[0] == 'm') {
                 // if the mode is clearly an octal number (starts with 0)
                 // convert it to decimal
-                if (strlen($opt[1]) && $opt[1]{0} == '0') {
+                if (strlen($opt[1]) && $opt[1][0] == '0') {
                     $opt[1] = octdec($opt[1]);
                 } else {
                     // convert to int
@@ -545,7 +545,7 @@ class System
                     break;
                 case '-name':
                     if (OS_WINDOWS) {
-                        if ($args[$i+1]{0} == '\\') {
+                        if ($args[$i+1][0] == '\\') {
                             // prepend drive
                             $args[$i+1] = addslashes(substr(getcwd(), 0, 2) . $args[$i + 1]);
                         }
diff --git a/include/sha256.php b/include/sha256.php
index 3af72d4b..9ec1e8ed 100644
--- a/include/sha256.php
+++ b/include/sha256.php
@@ -254,17 +254,17 @@ class SHA256 extends hash
         {
             //      initialize the registers
             for($j = 0; $j < 8; $j++)
-            ${$vars{$j}} = $hashData->hash[$j];
+            ${$vars[$j]} = $hashData->hash[$j];
 
             //      the SHA-256 compression function
             for($j = 0; $j < 64; $j++)
             {
                 if($j < 16)
                 {
-                    $T1  = ord($hashData->chunks[$i]{$j*4  }) & 0xFF; $T1 <<= 8;
-                    $T1 |= ord($hashData->chunks[$i]{$j*4+1}) & 0xFF; $T1 <<= 8;
-                    $T1 |= ord($hashData->chunks[$i]{$j*4+2}) & 0xFF; $T1 <<= 8;
-                    $T1 |= ord($hashData->chunks[$i]{$j*4+3}) & 0xFF;
+                    $T1  = ord($hashData->chunks[$i][$j*4  ]) & 0xFF; $T1 <<= 8;
+                    $T1 |= ord($hashData->chunks[$i][$j*4+1]) & 0xFF; $T1 <<= 8;
+                    $T1 |= ord($hashData->chunks[$i][$j*4+2]) & 0xFF; $T1 <<= 8;
+                    $T1 |= ord($hashData->chunks[$i][$j*4+3]) & 0xFF;
                     $W[$j] = $T1;
                 }
                 else
@@ -286,7 +286,7 @@ class SHA256 extends hash
 
             //      compute the next hash set
             for($j = 0; $j < 8; $j++)
-            $hashData->hash[$j] = SHA256::sum(${$vars{$j}}, $hashData->hash[$j]);
+            $hashData->hash[$j] = SHA256::sum(${$vars[$j]}, $hashData->hash[$j]);
         }
     }
 
@@ -351,7 +351,7 @@ function hexerize($str)
         $o = 'string(' . strlen($str) . ')' . "::\n";
         for($i = 0, $j = strlen($str); $i < $j; $i++, $b = $i % 4)
         {
-            $o .= sprintf('%02X', ord($str{$i}));
+            $o .= sprintf('%02X', ord($str[$i]));
             //      only process when 32-bits have passed through
             if($i != 0 && $b == 3)
             {