use strict;
my $str = '\'I don\'t go to work tomorrow 2\'5\'';
my $regex = qr/\b'\b(*SKIP)(*FAIL)|'/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