regex101: Java Substitution Workspace

Non-Capturing Group(?:(START)(?=.*END)|\G(?!^))

1st Alternative(START)(?=.*END)

Group 1(START)

STARTthe literal text START (case sensitive)

Positive Lookahead(?=.*END)

.*any character (except for line terminators), repeated any number of times

ENDthe literal text END (case sensitive)

2nd Alternative\G(?!^)

\Gstart of current search

Negative Lookahead(?!^)

^start of line

Group 2((?:(?!START|END)(?>\\+\"|[^\r\n\"]))*)

Non-Capturing Group(?:(?!START|END)(?>\\+\"|[^\r\n\"]))*

*repeats the group contents below any number of times:

Negative Lookahead(?!START|END)

1st AlternativeSTART

STARTthe literal text START (case sensitive)

2nd AlternativeEND

ENDthe literal text END (case sensitive)

Atomic Group(?>\\+\"|[^\r\n\"])

1st Alternative\\+\"

\\+the literal \ (92₁₀ / 134₈ / 5C₁₆) , repeated at least once

\"the literal " (34₁₀ / 42₈ / 22₁₆)

2nd Alternative[^\r\n\"]

Negated Character Class[^\r\n\"]

\ra carriage return (ASCII 13)

\na line-feed (newline) character (ASCII 10)

\"the literal " (34₁₀ / 42₈ / 22₁₆)

Global pattern flags

g modifier: global. Finds all matches instead of stopping after the first

m modifier: multiline. Causes ^ and $ to match the start and end of each line, not only the start and end of the string

27 tokens

Regular Expression

(?:(START)(?=.*END)|\G(?!^))((?:(?!START|END)(?>\\+\"|[^\r\n\"]))*)\"

New

This " is START an " example input END string ""
START This is a "" second example END
This" is "a START third example END " "

START This is a ""\""\\\\\""" test "" test\" second example END " and more """" END "

Extraction

This " is START an " example input END string ""
START This is a "" second example END
This" is "a START third example END " "

START This is a ""\""\\\\\""" test "" test\" second example END " and more """" END "