regex101: PCRE (Legacy) Match Workspace

Group arg(?<arg> # Start arg group (?<key>\w+) # key group: 1+ word chars = # = (?<quote>['"`]?) # quote group: an optional " ' or ` (?<value>(?:(?!\k<quote>)[^\\])*(?:\\[\s\S](?:(?!\k<quote>)[^\\])*)*) # value group: any 0+ chars other than quote char with escaped quote chars allowed \k<quote> # quote group value )

Comment: Start arg group

Group key(?<key>\w+)

\w+any word character, repeated at least once

Comment: key group: 1+ word chars

= the literal text =

Comment: =

Group quote(?<quote>['"`]?)

Character Class['"`]?

?matches at most one character from the set below:

'the literal ' (39₁₀ / 47₈ / 27₁₆)

"the literal " (34₁₀ / 42₈ / 22₁₆)

`the literal ` (96₁₀ / 140₈ / 60₁₆)

Comment: quote group: an optional " ' or `

Group value(?<value>(?:(?!\k<quote>)[^\\])*(?:\\[\s\S](?:(?!\k<quote>)[^\\])*)*)

Non-Capturing Group(?:(?!\k<quote>)[^\\])*

*repeats the group contents below any number of times:

Negative Lookahead(?!\k<quote>)

\k<quote>the text saved by group quote

Negated Character Class[^\\]

\\the literal \ (92₁₀ / 134₈ / 5C₁₆)

Non-Capturing Group(?:\\[\s\S](?:(?!\k<quote>)[^\\])*)*

*repeats the group contents below any number of times:

\\the literal \ (92₁₀ / 134₈ / 5C₁₆)

Character Class[\s\S]

\sany whitespace character

\Sany non-whitespace character

Non-Capturing Group(?:(?!\k<quote>)[^\\])*

*repeats the group contents below any number of times:

Negative Lookahead(?!\k<quote>)

\k<quote>the text saved by group quote

Negated Character Class[^\\]

\\the literal \ (92₁₀ / 134₈ / 5C₁₆)

Comment: value group: any 0+ chars other than quote char with escaped quote chars allowed

\k<quote>the text saved by group quote

Comment: quote group value

Comment: end of arg group

Global pattern flags

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

x modifier: extended. Ignores unescaped whitespace and comments outside character classes

Search reference

Regular Expression

(?<arg>               # Start arg group
  (?<key>\w+)         #  key group: 1+ word chars
  =                   # =
  (?<quote>['"`]?)    # quote group: an optional " ' or `
  (?<value>(?:(?!\k<quote>)[^\\])*(?:\\[\s\S](?:(?!\k<quote>)[^\\])*)*) # value group: any 0+ chars other than quote char with escaped quote chars allowed
  \k<quote>            # quote group value
)                      # end of arg group

Unit Tests

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