SearchAtom1   "Quoted Search Atom2" SearchAtom3 "" SearchAtom5Since4WasEmpty "Search Atom 6"

##</code><code>##

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">
function ParseStringRegExp (strSource) {
  var intMatchCounter = 0;
  var aryStoredValues = new Array();
  var strUniqueID;
  var strWorking = strSource;
  var aryQSMatch;

  // Iterate through each quoted string and replace with UniqueID
  while (aryQSMatch = strWorking.match (/"[^"]*"/)) {
    strUniqueID = "__" + intMatchCounter + "__";        // Generate the UniqueID
    strWorking = strWorking.replace (/"[^"]*"/, strUniqueID);    // Replace the value with UniqueID
    aryStoredValues[intMatchCounter++] = aryQSMatch[0];      // Store removed value into array
  }

  // Split the modified string by spaces
  var aryOutput = strWorking.split (/\s+/);

  // Go through array and replace UniqueIDs with original values.
  for (i = 0; i < aryOutput.length; i++) {
    if (aryQSMatchResults = aryOutput[i].match(/__(\d+)__/)) {
      aryOutput[i] = aryStoredValues[aryQSMatchResults[1]];    // Do replacement here
    }
  }
  
  return (aryOutput);
}

var strSource = 'SearchAtom1   "Quoted Search Atom2" SearchAtom3 "" SearchAtom5Since4WasEmpty "Search Atom 6"';
var aryOutput = ParseStringRegExp (strSource);
alert (aryOutput);
</SCRIPT>

##</code><code>##

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">
function ParseStringRegExp (strSource) {
  var intMatchCounter = 0;
  var aryStoredValues = new Array();
  var strUniqueID;
  var strWorking = strSource;
  var aryQSMatch;

  // Escape all backslashes and spaces.

  // ***
  // what's a good regex(es) we can write for this section?
  // ***

  // Split the modified string by spaces.
  var aryOutput = strWorking.split (/\s+/);

  // Go through array and replace UniqueIDs with original values.
  for (i = 0; i < aryOutput.length; i++) {
  
    // ***
    // Do the unescaping back to regular slashes and spaces for each 
    // array value here for aryOutput[i].
    // ***

  }
  
  return (aryOutput);
}

var strSource = 'SearchAtom1   "Quoted Search Atom2" SearchAtom3 "" SearchAtom5Since4WasEmpty "Search Atom 6"';
var aryOutput = ParseStringRegExp (strSource);
alert (aryOutput);

</SCRIPT>