Thread: Replace unless inside quotes?

Hey guys, sorry if this isn't the correct area for this.

Basically, I am trying to write a method that will take a string, a target, and a replacement (a replacement function like string.replace). I want it to replace all instances of target with replacement EXCEPT for instances that occur within single or double quotes.

Example input / output:

this "Wont" be " replaced, be"

call: replace(theString, "replaced", "narf") and replace(theString, "be", "rafn")

output:

this "Wont" rafn " replaced, be"

Can this be done moderately easily?
I am working on it but haven't gotten far yet...

Well, easy or hard is relative to your skill. There are many ways how to do this. If you know a lot about regular expressions you could give that a go. You could also try to use the String classes split method to split around quotation marks. Or you might use the charAt method from string to find substring within and outside of quotation marks.