# If you'd like to omit non-matching lines from the result; add ';d' to the end of the expression.
sed -E 's/(?<=')\b|\b(?=')/%/g;t' <<< "'whatever'
hello 'world' hello '%world%'
'foo' bar '%foo%' bar
'foo bar' '%foo bar%'
foo 'bar' but gar 'har' foo '%bar%' but gar '%har%'"
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 SED, please visit: https://www.gnu.org/software/sed/manual/html_node/The-_0022s_0022-Command.html