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

Any special reason it has to be a regexp?

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

var parts = [];
var currentPart = "";
var isInQuotes= false;

for (var i = 0; i < str.length, i++) {
  var char = str.charAt(i);
  if (char === " " && !isInQuotes) {
    parts.push(currentPart);
    currentPart = "";
  } else {
    currentPart += char;
  }
  if (char === '"') {
    isInQuotes = !isInQuotes;
  }
}

if (currentPart) parts.push(currentPart);