Javascript -- regex strings

Question

Simple question... I am just baffled how to write the notation.

Example: input='..."aaaa\"bbbb"...'

I need regex to grab the string ignoring nested quotations.

I guess it can start like: input=input.replace(/[^\\]"...

How can I say 'all characters until a " which is not preceded by a \' ?

Thanks!

Further question: anyone want to attempt a solution that won't break in ex. like "...\\" with a backslash at end of sentence? Double backslashes should be substituted before hand or something I guess, since no recursive regex. — user202987
– user202987, Commented Nov 28, 2010 at 8:51

John Kugelman · Accepted Answer · 2010-11-28 08:02:23Z

3

"([^"\\]|\\.)*"

Inside the quotes can be (a) any character aside from a quote or backslash, or (b) any character if it's escaped with a backslash. Repeat.

answered Nov 28, 2010 at 8:02

John Kugelman

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5 Comments

user202987 Over a year ago

Thanks, very interesting solution. Doesn't seem to catch this though "\"" "a\"" "aa\"" etc

weakish Over a year ago

@user202987, I guess this will match aaaa and bbbb? Do you want to match so? Or aaaa"bbbb?

user202987 Over a year ago

You are right weakish, I want to grab the nested quotes just not terminate the string with them. From his description it seems that is what his answer should do. It seems to work for above example but not all.

user202987 Over a year ago

When I test on "a\"a" it works properly, but "a\"" it seems to take empty string (last 2 quotes) and leave the "a\ behind.

user202987 Over a year ago

Oooook I find there's a previous regex line on my code messing this case up sorry, will need to rewrite it in the same way. Works beautifully! Thanks :)))

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