use strict;
my $str = 'abc | xx ?? "1 x \\\' 3" d e f \\\' y " 5 \\\' x yz
abc | xx ?? \'1 x \\" 3\' d e f \\\' y " 5 \\\' x yz
';
my $regex = qr/(?<!\\)(['"])(?:(?!(?:\1|\\)).|\\.)*+\1(*SKIP)(*FAIL)|\h+/mp;
my $subst = '';
my $result = $str =~ s/$regex/$subst/rg;
print "The result of the substitution is' $result\n";
Please keep in mind that these code samples are automatically generated and are not guaranteed to work. If you find any syntax errors, feel free to submit a bug report. For a full regex reference for Perl, please visit: http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html