force_balance_tags( string $text )

function force_balance_tags( $text ) {
	$tagstack = array();
	$stacksize = 0;
	$tagqueue = '';
	$newtext = '';
	// Known single-entity/self-closing tags
	$single_tags = array( 'area', 'base', 'basefont', 'br', 'col', 'command', 'embed', 'frame', 'hr', 'img', 'input', 'isindex', 'link', 'meta', 'param', 'source' );
	// Tags that can be immediately nested within themselves
	$nestable_tags = array( 'blockquote', 'div', 'object', 'q', 'span' );

	// WP bug fix for comments - in case you REALLY meant to type '< !--'
	$text = str_replace('< !--', '<    !--', $text);
	// WP bug fix for LOVE <3 (and other situations with '<' before a number)
	$text = preg_replace('#<([0-9]{1})#', '&lt;$1', $text);

	while ( preg_match("/<(\/?[\w:]*)\s*([^>]*)>/", $text, $regex) ) {
		$newtext .= $tagqueue;

		$i = strpos($text, $regex[0]);
		$l = strlen($regex[0]);

		// clear the shifter
		$tagqueue = '';
		// Pop or Push
		if ( isset($regex[1][0]) && '/' == $regex[1][0] ) { // End Tag
			$tag = strtolower(substr($regex[1],1));
			// if too many closing tags
			if ( $stacksize <= 0 ) {
				$tag = '';
				// or close to be safe $tag = '/' . $tag;
			}
			// if stacktop value = tag close value then pop
			elseif ( $tagstack[$stacksize - 1] == $tag ) { // found closing tag
				$tag = '</' . $tag . '>'; // Close Tag
				// Pop
				array_pop( $tagstack );
				$stacksize--;
			} else { // closing tag not at top, search for it
				for ( $j = $stacksize-1; $j >= 0; $j-- ) {
					if ( $tagstack[$j] == $tag ) {
					// add tag to tagqueue
						for ( $k = $stacksize-1; $k >= $j; $k--) {
							$tagqueue .= '</' . array_pop( $tagstack ) . '>';
							$stacksize--;
						}
						break;
					}
				}
				$tag = '';
			}
		} else { // Begin Tag
			$tag = strtolower($regex[1]);

			// Tag Cleaning

			// If it's an empty tag "< >", do nothing
			if ( '' == $tag ) {
				// do nothing
			}
			// ElseIf it presents itself as a self-closing tag...
			elseif ( substr( $regex[2], -1 ) == '/' ) {
				// ...but it isn't a known single-entity self-closing tag, then don't let it be treated as such and
				// immediately close it with a closing tag (the tag will encapsulate no text as a result)
				if ( ! in_array( $tag, $single_tags ) )
					$regex[2] = trim( substr( $regex[2], 0, -1 ) ) . "></$tag";
			}
			// ElseIf it's a known single-entity tag but it doesn't close itself, do so
			elseif ( in_array($tag, $single_tags) ) {
				$regex[2] .= '/';
			}
			// Else it's not a single-entity tag
			else {
				// If the top of the stack is the same as the tag we want to push, close previous tag
				if ( $stacksize > 0 && !in_array($tag, $nestable_tags) && $tagstack[$stacksize - 1] == $tag ) {
					$tagqueue = '</' . array_pop( $tagstack ) . '>';
					$stacksize--;
				}
				$stacksize = array_push( $tagstack, $tag );
			}

			// Attributes
			$attributes = $regex[2];
			if ( ! empty( $attributes ) && $attributes[0] != '>' )
				$attributes = ' ' . $attributes;

			$tag = '<' . $tag . $attributes . '>';
			//If already queuing a close tag, then put this tag on, too
			if ( !empty($tagqueue) ) {
				$tagqueue .= $tag;
				$tag = '';
			}
		}
		$newtext .= substr($text, 0, $i) . $tag;
		$text = substr($text, $i + $l);
	}

	// Clear Tag Queue
	$newtext .= $tagqueue;

	// Add Remaining text
	$newtext .= $text;

	// Empty Stack
	while( $x = array_pop($tagstack) )
		$newtext .= '</' . $x . '>'; // Add remaining tags to close

	// WP fix for the bug with HTML comments
	$newtext = str_replace("< !--","<!--",$newtext);
	$newtext = str_replace("<    !--","< !--",$newtext);

	return $newtext;
}