Javascript split by spaces but not those in quotes

Question

The goal is to split a string at the spaces but not split the text data that is in quotes or separate that from the adjacent text.

The input is effectively a string

Answer 1

You can use this regex for split:

var s = 'a:0 b:1 moo:"foo bar" c:2';

var m = s.split(/ +(?=(?:(?:[^"]*"){2})*[^"]*$)/g);
//=> [a:0, b:1, moo:"foo bar", c:2]

RegEx Demo

It splits on spaces only if it is outside quotes by using a positive lookahead that makes sure there are even number of quotes after a space.