Regex to replace all string literals in a Java file

Question

In my program I will be reading a java file line by line, and if there is any string literal in that line, i will replace it with (say) \"ABC\".

Is there any

Answer 1

s = s.replaceAll("\"([^\n\"\\]+|\\\\.)*\"", "\"ABC\"");

This searches quote, and any either non-quotes/non-backslahes/non-linefeeds or backslash+character, till quote.

\"
  (
    [^\n\"\\]+
  |
    \\\\.
  )*
\"

• [^ ... ] non of the enclosed chars, range possible too A-Z.
• | or.
• . any character, by default not line endings.
• ... + one or more of ... .
• ... * zero or more of ... .