In Pod::Html version 1.03, the process_puretext function does this:

    # convert double-quotes to single-quotes
    if( $$quote && $text =~ s/"/''/s ){
        $$quote = 0;
    }
    while ($text =~ s/"([^"]*)"/``$1''/sg) {};
    $$quote = 1 if $text =~ s/"/``/s;
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Now I understand what each statement does, but can't figure out how it works! The first regex will find the first (") char and turn it into a pair of single quotes. The /s modifier is superfluous.

The second will find pairs of double quotes and replace the first with backticks and the second with two singles.

Then any remaining ("), if there were an odd number (even to begin with since the first was already taken) that last one is converted to backticks.

So... I'm reading that

stuff "passage one" more stuff "passage two" stuff
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would convert the first one to close quotes, then pairs with open/close, then the last to open.

stuff ''passage one`` more stuff ''passage two`` stuff
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Isn't that backwards?

—John