use strict;
my $str = 'abc def "ghi jkl\\n"
"mno pqr"';
my $regex = qr/(?x) # invoke extended (aka free-spacing) mode
^ # match beginning of the string
[^"\n]* # match zero or more chars other than line terminators and double-quotes
" # match a double-quote
[^"\n]* # match zero or more chars other than line terminators and double-quotes
[^ "\n] # match a character other than a space, double-quote or newline
" # match a double-quote
\n # match a newline
\ * # match zero or more spaces
" # match double-quote
[^ "\n] # match a character other than a space, double-quote or newline
[^"\n]* # match zero or more chars other than line terminators and double-quotes
" # match a double-quote
\n? # optionally match a newline
$ # match end of string/mp;
if ( $str =~ /$regex/g ) {
print "Whole match is ${^MATCH} and its start/end positions can be obtained via \$-[0] and \$+[0]\n";
# print "Capture Group 1 is $1 and its start/end positions can be obtained via \$-[1] and \$+[1]\n";
# print "Capture Group 2 is $2 ... and so on\n";
}
# ${^POSTMATCH} and ${^PREMATCH} are also available with the use of '/p'
# Named capture groups can be called via $+{name}
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