Python Regex to find a string in double quotes within a string

Question

A code in python using regex that can perform something like this

Input: Regex should return \"String 1\" or \"String 2\" or \"String3\" 
Output: String 1,St         


        

Answer 1

The highly up-voted answer doesn't account for the possibility that the double-quoted string might contain one or more double-quote characters (properly escaped, of course). To handle this situation, the regex needs to accumulate characters one-by-one with a positive lookahead assertion stating that the current character is not a double-quote character that is not preceded by a backslash (which requires a negative lookbehind assertion):

"(?:(?:(?!(?

See Regex Demo

import re
import ast


def doit(text):
    matches=re.findall(r'"(?:(?:(?!(?', ast.literal_eval(match))


doit('Regex should return "String 1" or "String 2" or "String3" and "\\"double quoted string\\"" ')

Prints:

"String 1" => String 1
"String 2" => String 2
"String3" => String3
"\"double quoted string\"" => "double quoted string"