const regex = /(?:"|\G(?<!")(?!\A))(?<r>[^a"\\]*+(?>\\.[^a"\\]*)*+)\K(a|"(*SKIP)(*F))(?(?=((?&r)"))\3)/g;
// Alternative syntax using RegExp constructor
// const regex = new RegExp('(?:"|\\G(?<!")(?!\\A))(?<r>[^a"\\\\]*+(?>\\\\.[^a"\\\\]*)*+)\\K(a|"(*SKIP)(*F))(?(?=((?&r)"))\\3)', 'g')
const str = `Problem: I have thousands of documents which contains a specific character I don't want. E.g. "the character a". These documents contain a variety of characters, but the a's I want to replace "are inside double quotes or" single quotes.
I would "like to find and replace them", and I thought using Regex would be needed. I am using VSCode, but I'm open to any suggestions.
My attempt: I was able to find the following regex to match for a specific string containing the "values inside the" ().
".*?(r).*?"
However, this only highlights the entire quote. I want to highlight the character only.
Any solution, "perhaps outside of regex", is welcome.`;
const subst = `***\3`;
// The substituted value will be contained in the result variable
const result = str.replace(regex, subst);
console.log('Substitution result: ', result);
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 JavaScript, please visit: https://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide/Regular_Expressions