diff --git a/change_log.txt b/change_log.txt
index d0838dde..fec61e0a 100644
--- a/change_log.txt
+++ b/change_log.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+08/10/2009
+- update of mb support in plugins
+
+
 08/09/2009
 - fixed problems with doublequoted strings at name attribute of {block} tag
 - bugfix at scope attribute of {append} tag
diff --git a/libs/plugins/modifier.lower.php b/libs/plugins/modifier.lower.php
index df64c5fc..34a609e6 100644
--- a/libs/plugins/modifier.lower.php
+++ b/libs/plugins/modifier.lower.php
@@ -20,8 +20,7 @@
 */
 function smarty_modifier_lower($string)
 {
-    $smarty = Smarty::instance();
-    if ($smarty->has_mb) {
+    if (function_exists('mb_strtolower')) {
         return mb_strtolower($string);
     } else {
         return strtolower($string);
diff --git a/libs/plugins/modifier.regex_replace.php b/libs/plugins/modifier.regex_replace.php
index 914602e5..39cdf0a0 100644
--- a/libs/plugins/modifier.regex_replace.php
+++ b/libs/plugins/modifier.regex_replace.php
@@ -1,61 +1,48 @@
-<?php
-/**
-* Smarty plugin
-* 
-* @package Smarty
-* @subpackage PluginsModifier
-*/
-
-/**
-* Smarty regex_replace modifier plugin
-* 
-* Type:     modifier<br>
-* Name:     regex_replace<br>
-* Purpose:  regular expression search/replace
-* 
-* @link http://smarty.php.net/manual/en/language.modifier.regex.replace.php regex_replace (Smarty online manual)
-* @author Monte Ohrt <monte at ohrt dot com> 
-* @param string $ 
-* @param string $ |array
-* @param string $ |array
-* @return string 
-*/
-function smarty_modifier_regex_replace($string, $search, $replace)
-{
-    $smarty = Smarty::instance();
-
-    if (is_array($search)) {
-        foreach($search as $idx => $s)
-        $search[$idx] = _smarty_regex_replace_check($s);
-    } else {
-        $search = _smarty_regex_replace_check($search);
-    } 
-
-    if ($smarty->has_mb) {
-        return mb_ereg_replace($search, $replace, $string);
-    } else {
-        return preg_replace($search, $replace, $string);
-    } 
-} 
-
-function _smarty_regex_replace_check($search)
-{
-    if ($smarty->has_mb) {
-        if (($pos = mb_strpos($search, "\0")) !== false)
-            $search = mb_substr($search, 0, $pos);
-        if (mb_preg_match('!([a-zA-Z\s]+)$!s', $search, $match) && (mb_strpos($match[1], 'e') !== false)) {
-            /* remove eval-modifier from $search */
-            $search = mb_substr($search, 0, - mb_strlen($match[1])) . mb_ereg_replace('![e\s]+!', '', $match[1]);
-        } 
-    } else {
-        if (($pos = strpos($search, "\0")) !== false)
-            $search = substr($search, 0, $pos);
-        if (mb_preg_match('!([a-zA-Z\s]+)$!s', $search, $match) && (strpos($match[1], 'e') !== false)) {
-            /* remove eval-modifier from $search */
-            $search = substr($search, 0, - strlen($match[1])) . preg_replace('![e\s]+!', '', $match[1]);
-        } 
-    } 
-    return $search;
-} 
-
-?>
+<?php
+/**
+ * Smarty plugin
+ * @package Smarty
+ * @subpackage plugins
+ */
+
+
+/**
+ * Smarty regex_replace modifier plugin
+ *
+ * Type:     modifier<br>
+ * Name:     regex_replace<br>
+ * Purpose:  regular expression search/replace
+ * @link http://smarty.php.net/manual/en/language.modifier.regex.replace.php
+ *          regex_replace (Smarty online manual)
+ * @author   Monte Ohrt <monte at ohrt dot com>
+ * @param string
+ * @param string|array
+ * @param string|array
+ * @return string
+ */
+function smarty_modifier_regex_replace($string, $search, $replace)
+{
+    if(is_array($search)) {
+      foreach($search as $idx => $s)
+        $search[$idx] = _smarty_regex_replace_check($s);
+    } else {
+      $search = _smarty_regex_replace_check($search);
+    }       
+
+    return preg_replace($search, $replace, $string);
+}
+
+function _smarty_regex_replace_check($search)
+{
+    if (($pos = strpos($search,"\0")) !== false)
+      $search = substr($search,0,$pos);
+    if (preg_match('!([a-zA-Z\s]+)$!s', $search, $match) && (strpos($match[1], 'e') !== false)) {
+        /* remove eval-modifier from $search */
+        $search = substr($search, 0, -strlen($match[1])) . preg_replace('![e\s]+!', '', $match[1]);
+    }
+    return $search;
+}
+
+/* vim: set expandtab: */
+
+?>
diff --git a/libs/plugins/modifier.replace.php b/libs/plugins/modifier.replace.php
index 57439741..5f70979f 100644
--- a/libs/plugins/modifier.replace.php
+++ b/libs/plugins/modifier.replace.php
@@ -38,8 +38,7 @@ function smarty_modifier_replace($string, $search, $replace)
             return $haystack;
         } 
     } 
-    $smarty = Smarty::instance();
-    if ($smarty->has_mb) {
+    if (function_exists('mb_substr')) {
         return mb_str_replace($search, $replace, $string);
     } else {
         return str_replace($search, $replace, $string);
diff --git a/libs/plugins/modifier.spacify.php b/libs/plugins/modifier.spacify.php
index 8b2d9498..d2593ec3 100644
--- a/libs/plugins/modifier.spacify.php
+++ b/libs/plugins/modifier.spacify.php
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@
 */
 function smarty_modifier_spacify($string, $spacify_char = ' ')
 {
-    $smarty = Smarty::instance();
     return implode($spacify_char, preg_split('//', $string, -1));
 } 
 
diff --git a/libs/plugins/modifier.strip.php b/libs/plugins/modifier.strip.php
index 1890263b..39f0f9f7 100644
--- a/libs/plugins/modifier.strip.php
+++ b/libs/plugins/modifier.strip.php
@@ -25,12 +25,7 @@
 */
 function smarty_modifier_strip($text, $replace = ' ')
 {
-    $smarty = Smarty::instance();
-    if ($smarty->has_mb) {
-        return mb_ereg_replace("\s+", $replace, $text, 'p');
-    } else {
         return preg_replace('!\s+!', $replace, $text);
-    } 
 } 
 
 ?>
diff --git a/libs/plugins/modifier.strip_tags.php b/libs/plugins/modifier.strip_tags.php
index 1bd406d2..6af08b2f 100644
--- a/libs/plugins/modifier.strip_tags.php
+++ b/libs/plugins/modifier.strip_tags.php
@@ -21,13 +21,8 @@
 */
 function smarty_modifier_strip_tags($string, $replace_with_space = true)
 {
-    $smarty = Smarty::instance();
     if ($replace_with_space) {
-        if ($smarty->has_mb) {
-            return mb_ereg_replace("<[^>]*?>", ' ', $string, 'p');
-        } else {
             return preg_replace('!<[^>]*?>!', ' ', $string);
-        } 
     } else {
         return strip_tags($string);
     } 
diff --git a/libs/plugins/modifier.upper.php b/libs/plugins/modifier.upper.php
index 2b5d9b0b..fefa854f 100644
--- a/libs/plugins/modifier.upper.php
+++ b/libs/plugins/modifier.upper.php
@@ -20,8 +20,7 @@
 */
 function smarty_modifier_upper($string)
 {
-    $smarty = Smarty::instance();
-    if ($smarty->has_mb) {
+    if (function_exists('mb_strtoupper')) {
         return mb_strtoupper($string);
     } else {
         return strtoupper($string);