diff --git a/extensions/gii/Generator.php b/extensions/gii/Generator.php
index 32735824ba..243811ddbf 100644
--- a/extensions/gii/Generator.php
+++ b/extensions/gii/Generator.php
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ use Yii;
 use ReflectionClass;
 use yii\base\InvalidConfigException;
 use yii\base\Model;
+use yii\helpers\VarDumper;
 use yii\web\View;
 
 /**
@@ -496,9 +497,7 @@ abstract class Generator extends Model
         if ($this->enableI18N) {
             // If there are placeholders, use them
             if (!empty($placeholders)) {
-                $search = ['array (', ')'];
-                $replace = ['[', ']'];
-                $ph = ', ' . str_replace($search, $replace, var_export($placeholders, true));
+                $ph = ', ' . VarDumper::export($placeholders);
             } else {
                 $ph = '';
             }
diff --git a/framework/base/ErrorHandler.php b/framework/base/ErrorHandler.php
index 4dd06817a9..9ec0b85ffd 100644
--- a/framework/base/ErrorHandler.php
+++ b/framework/base/ErrorHandler.php
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 namespace yii\base;
 
 use Yii;
+use yii\helpers\VarDumper;
 use yii\web\HttpException;
 
 /**
@@ -107,7 +108,7 @@ abstract class ErrorHandler extends Component
                     echo '<pre>' . htmlspecialchars($msg, ENT_QUOTES, Yii::$app->charset) . '</pre>';
                 }
             }
-            $msg .= "\n\$_SERVER = " . var_export($_SERVER, true);
+            $msg .= "\n\$_SERVER = " . VarDumper::export($_SERVER);
             error_log($msg);
             exit(1);
         }
diff --git a/framework/console/controllers/AssetController.php b/framework/console/controllers/AssetController.php
index b7e1356008..7e016cf78e 100644
--- a/framework/console/controllers/AssetController.php
+++ b/framework/console/controllers/AssetController.php
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ namespace yii\console\controllers;
 use Yii;
 use yii\console\Exception;
 use yii\console\Controller;
+use yii\helpers\VarDumper;
 
 /**
  * Allows you to combine and compress your JavaScript and CSS files.
@@ -392,7 +393,7 @@ class AssetController extends Controller
                 }
             }
         }
-        $array = var_export($array, true);
+        $array = VarDumper::export($array);
         $version = date('Y-m-d H:i:s', time());
         $bundleFileContent = <<<EOD
 <?php
@@ -573,8 +574,8 @@ EOD;
      */
     public function actionTemplate($configFile)
     {
-        $jsCompressor = var_export($this->jsCompressor, true);
-        $cssCompressor = var_export($this->cssCompressor, true);
+        $jsCompressor = VarDumper::export($this->jsCompressor);
+        $cssCompressor = VarDumper::export($this->cssCompressor);
 
         $template = <<<EOD
 <?php
diff --git a/framework/console/controllers/MessageController.php b/framework/console/controllers/MessageController.php
index e3ba05a91f..88e64831e4 100644
--- a/framework/console/controllers/MessageController.php
+++ b/framework/console/controllers/MessageController.php
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ use Yii;
 use yii\console\Controller;
 use yii\console\Exception;
 use yii\helpers\FileHelper;
+use yii\helpers\VarDumper;
 
 /**
  * Extracts messages to be translated from source files.
@@ -374,7 +375,7 @@ class MessageController extends Controller
         if ($format === 'po') {
             $content = $merged;
         } else {
-            $array = str_replace("\r", '', var_export($merged, true));
+            $array = VarDumper::export($merged);
             $content = <<<EOD
 <?php
 /**
diff --git a/framework/rbac/PhpManager.php b/framework/rbac/PhpManager.php
index e4a41a1083..7ee9cc26f1 100644
--- a/framework/rbac/PhpManager.php
+++ b/framework/rbac/PhpManager.php
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ namespace yii\rbac;
 use yii\base\InvalidCallException;
 use yii\base\InvalidParamException;
 use Yii;
+use yii\helpers\VarDumper;
 
 /**
  * PhpManager represents an authorization manager that stores authorization
@@ -703,6 +704,6 @@ class PhpManager extends BaseManager
      */
     protected function saveToFile($data, $file)
     {
-        file_put_contents($file, "<?php\nreturn " . var_export($data, true) . ";\n", LOCK_EX);
+        file_put_contents($file, "<?php\nreturn " . VarDumper::export($data) . ";\n", LOCK_EX);
     }
 }
diff --git a/framework/web/ErrorHandler.php b/framework/web/ErrorHandler.php
index 1525571cd7..cb1f78761f 100644
--- a/framework/web/ErrorHandler.php
+++ b/framework/web/ErrorHandler.php
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ use Yii;
 use yii\base\Exception;
 use yii\base\ErrorException;
 use yii\base\UserException;
+use yii\helpers\VarDumper;
 
 /**
  * ErrorHandler handles uncaught PHP errors and exceptions.
@@ -262,7 +263,7 @@ class ErrorHandler extends \yii\base\ErrorHandler
         $request = '';
         foreach (['_GET', '_POST', '_SERVER', '_FILES', '_COOKIE', '_SESSION', '_ENV'] as $name) {
             if (!empty($GLOBALS[$name])) {
-                $request .= '$' . $name . ' = ' . var_export($GLOBALS[$name], true) . ";\n\n";
+                $request .= '$' . $name . ' = ' . VarDumper::export($GLOBALS[$name]) . ";\n\n";
             }
         }