$re = '/\\\\(.*\s\b[^\\\\]+?)\\\\/';
$str = 'cat "food" | c:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe
c:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe
cat "c:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe" | pipe | c:\\apps and stuff\\node.exe';
$subst = "\\\"$1\"\\";
$result = preg_replace($re, $subst, $str);
echo "The result of the substitution is ".$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 PHP, please visit: http://php.net/manual/en/ref.pcre.php