Regular Expressions 101

Group 1((["']).*?\2|(?:[^\\ ]+\\\s+)+[^\\ ]+|\S+)

1st Alternative(["']).*?\2

Group 2(["'])

Character Class["']

"the literal " (34₁₀ / 42₈ / 22₁₆)

'the literal ' (39₁₀ / 47₈ / 27₁₆)

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

\2the text saved by group 2

2nd Alternative(?:[^\\ ]+\\\s+)+[^\\ ]+

Non-Capturing Group(?:[^\\ ]+\\\s+)+

+repeats the group contents below at least once:

Negated Character Class[^\\ ]+

+matches at least one character outside the set below:

\\the literal \ (92₁₀ / 134₈ / 5C₁₆)

the literal (32₁₀ / 40₈ / 20₁₆)

\\the literal \ (92₁₀ / 134₈ / 5C₁₆)

\s+any whitespace character, repeated at least once

Negated Character Class[^\\ ]+

+matches at least one character outside the set below:

\\the literal \ (92₁₀ / 134₈ / 5C₁₆)

the literal (32₁₀ / 40₈ / 20₁₆)

3rd Alternative\S+

\S+any non-whitespace character, repeated at least once

Global pattern flags

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

Detailed match information will be displayed here automatically.

Search reference

Regular Expression

((["']).*?\2|(?:[^\\ ]+\\\s+)+[^\\ ]+|\S+)

New

He is a "man of his" words\ always\ book 'single quote'