diff --git a/lib/kubetruth/template.rb b/lib/kubetruth/template.rb
index 01bcdec..45729ad 100644
--- a/lib/kubetruth/template.rb
+++ b/lib/kubetruth/template.rb
@@ -148,7 +148,6 @@ def deflate(hash, delimiter='.')
         return result
       end
 
-
       def inflate(map, delimiter='\.')
         result = {}
         map.each do |k, v|
@@ -166,12 +165,22 @@ def inflate(map, delimiter='\.')
         result
       end
 
-      def typify(data)
+      def typify(data, parser="json")
         case data
           when Hash
             Hash[data.collect {|k,v| [k, typify(v)] }]
           when Array
             data.collect {|v| typify(v) }
+          when /^\s*\[.*\]\s*$/, /^\s*\{.*\}\s*$/
+            parsed = case parser
+            when /json/i
+              JSON.load(data)
+            when /ya?ml/i
+              YAML.load(data)
+            else
+              raise "Invalid typify parser"
+            end
+            typify(parsed)
           when /^[0-9]+$/
             data.to_i
           when /^[0-9\.]+$/
@@ -183,6 +192,21 @@ def typify(data)
         end
       end
 
+      def mconcat(lhs_map, rhs_map)
+        lhs_map.merge(rhs_map)
+      end
+
+      REGEXP_FLAGS = {
+        'i' => Regexp::IGNORECASE,
+        'm' => Regexp::MULTILINE,
+        'e' => Regexp::EXTENDED
+      }
+
+      def re_replace(string, pattern, replacement, flags="")
+        allflags = flags.chars.inject(0) {|sum, n| sum | REGEXP_FLAGS[n] }
+        string.gsub(Regexp.new(pattern, allflags), replacement)
+      end
+
     end
 
     Liquid::Template.register_filter(CustomLiquidFilters)
diff --git a/spec/kubetruth/template_spec.rb b/spec/kubetruth/template_spec.rb
index 5cec891..1598b57 100644
--- a/spec/kubetruth/template_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/kubetruth/template_spec.rb
@@ -355,8 +355,53 @@ module Kubetruth
           expect(typify(data)).to eq(result)
         end
 
+        it "converts embedded json" do
+          expect(typify('[1, 2, 3]')).to eq([1, 2, 3])
+          expect(typify('{"foo": "bar"}')).to eq({"foo" => "bar"})
+        end
+
+        it "converts embedded yaml" do
+          expect(typify('[1, 2, 3]', "yaml")).to eq([1, 2, 3])
+          expect(typify('{foo: bar}', "yaml")).to eq({"foo" => "bar"})
+        end
+
+        it "recurses conversion of embedded" do
+          expect(typify('[1, 2, "3"]')).to eq([1, 2, 3])
+          expect(typify('{"foo": "true"}')).to eq({"foo" => true})
+        end
+
+        it "fails for invalid parser on embedded yaml" do
+          expect { typify("[1, 2, 3]", "yoyo") }.to raise_error(RuntimeError, /Invalid typify parser/)
+        end
+
       end
 
+      describe "#mconcat" do
+
+        it "merges two maps" do
+          m1 = {"x" => "y", "a" => "z"}
+          m2 = {"a" => "b", "y" => "z"}
+          expect(mconcat(m1, m2)).to eq(m1.merge(m2))
+          expect(described_class.new("{{ m1 | mconcat: m2 | to_json }}").render(m1: m1, m2: m2)).to eq(m1.merge(m2).to_json)
+        end
+
+      end
+
+      describe "#re_replace" do
+
+        it "performs gsub" do
+          expect(re_replace("foobar", "o+", "X")).to eq("fXbar")
+          expect(described_class.new('{{ "foobar" | re_replace: "o+", "X" }}').render()).to eq("fXbar")
+        end
+
+        it "handles flags" do
+          expect(re_replace("fOObar", "o+", "X")).to eq("fOObar")
+          expect(re_replace("fOObar", "o+", "X", "i")).to eq("fXbar")
+          expect(re_replace("FOO\nOO", "f.*", "X", "i")).to eq("X\nOO")
+          expect(re_replace("FOO\nOO", "f.*", "X", "mi")).to eq("X")
+        end
+
+      end
     end
 
     describe Kubetruth::Template::TemplateHashDrop do