Using regex to replace unescaped quotes

Question

I'm trying to use a regex search and replace to find and fix any unescaped quotation marks with escaped question marks. This is not in any particular language - just using regex to search and replace in Sublime Text 2.

I can find them just fine with this regex:

([a-zA-Z0-9!@#$%^&*()_+=-\?><:;\/])\"

Trying to replace is giving me some headaches. I thought this would work:

$0\\\"

but it's adding an extra quote in (or leaving the previous one there somehow).

e.g.,

e"

becomes

e"\"

instead of just

e\"

What the hey? I can't seem to find a combination in the replacement that will work!

What if the quote is already escaped? Is that a possibility? — Bohemian
– Bohemian ♦, Commented May 20, 2014 at 23:58
It won't find those, because i don't have an escaped backslash in my search set. — user3613745
– user3613745, Commented May 29, 2014 at 21:51

Andrew Clark · Accepted Answer · 2014-05-20 23:48:06Z

2

In the replacement $0 will be a reference to the entire match, including the quote. It looks like you should be using $1 instead which will be the first capturing group, so just the character immediately before the quote. So your replacement string would be "$1\\\"".

edited May 20, 2014 at 23:48

answered May 20, 2014 at 23:22

Andrew Clark

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1 Comment

user3613745 Over a year ago

Bless you! I thought 0 just grabbed the first match. Thanks for straightening me out!

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