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javascriptregexlookbehind

RegExp lookbehind assertion alternative

Given the string below, how would you split this into an array containing only the double quoted strings (ignoring nested quoted strings) without using a lookbehind assertion?

source string: 1|2|3|"A"|"B|C"|"\"D\"|\"E\""

target array:

[
  '"A"',
  '"B|C"',
  '"\"D\"|\"E\""'
]

Basically, I'm trying to find an alternative to /(?<!\\)".*?(?<!\\)"/g since Firefox currently doesn't support lookbehinds. The solution doesn't have to use regular expressions, but it should be reasonably efficient.

Solution

  • Just find all the quoted text /"[^"\\]*(?:\\[\S\s][^"\\]*)*"/g
    Don't need split for this.

    https://regex101.com/r/r5SJsR/1

    Formatted

     "
 [^"\\]*                       # Double quoted text
 (?: \\ [\S\s] [^"\\]* )*
 "