Removing "[crap-like-this]" from strings using bash parameter expansion?

Question

If I have the following $STRING

aaa.bbb.ccc.[ddd].eee.fff.[ggg].hhh

is there any way, using bash parameter expansion, to echo the following

aaa.bbb..ccc.eee.fff..hhh

That is, remove all occurrences of square brackets and everything inside those brackets? Everything I've tried ends up either removing everything in the string after the first left bracket or removing the brackets but leaving behind everything inside the brackets.

Answer 1

Requires shopt -s extglob:

bash-4.1# STRING='aaa.bbb.ccc.[ddd].eee.fff.[ggg].hhh'

bash-4.1# echo "${STRING//\[+([^\]])\]}"
aaa.bbb.ccc..eee.fff..hhh

Answer 2

shopt -s extglob

STRING='[asd].aaa.bbb.ccc.[ddd].eee.fff.[ggg].hhh.[asd]'
printf '%s\n' "${STRING//@(.\[*([^]])]|\[*([^]])]?(.))/}"

would give:

aaa.bbb.ccc.eee.fff.hhh