A Text::CSV (or Text::CSV_XS for speed) solution seems very appropriate, but if you need to roll your own, maybe something like: 

Win8 Strawberry 5.30.3.1 (64)  Tue 03/30/2021 11:53:39
C:\@Work\Perl\monks
>perl -Mstrict -Mwarnings

use 5.010;  # needs (?|...) branch reset

my $rx_dq_body  = qr{ [^\\"]* (?: \\. [^\\"]* )* }xms;
my $rx_unquoted = qr{ \S+ }xms;

for my $args (
    '',  ' ',
    '23 45.67 "John Marcus O\"Ddly" Surname',
    '"only \"quoted\" thing"',
    'no quoted stuff',
    ) {

    my $got_parsed_args =
    my @parsed_args =
    $args =~ m{ \G \s* (?| " ($rx_dq_body) " | ($rx_unquoted)) }xmsg;

    print ">$args< -> ";

    if ($got_parsed_args) {
        printf "%s \n", join ' ', map ">$_<", @parsed_args;
        }
    else {
        print "nada \n";
        }

    }

^Z
>< -> nada
> < -> nada
>23 45.67 "John Marcus O\"Ddly" Surname< -> >23< >45.67< >John Marcus 
+O\"Ddly< >Surname<
>"only \"quoted\" thing"< -> >only \"quoted\" thing<
>no quoted stuff< -> >no< >quoted< >stuff<

[download]

This needs Perl version 5.10+ for the (?|...) "branch reset" operator, but modification for pre-5.10 Perls is simple; let me know if you need it. The $rx_dq_body regex to match a double-quoted body supports embedded escaped double-quotes (and any other escaped character). You can play with this regex to get exactly what you want/need.

Of course, lots of tests should be done to verify this (or any other solution) really does what you want.

Update: For some reason, I included a \G \s* group in the regex above. It is entirely unnecessary although it does no harm AFAICT. The match regex
    m{ (?| " ($rx_dq_body) " | ($rx_unquoted)) }xmsg
should be exactly equivalent.

Give a man a fish:  <%-{-{-{-<

In reply to Re: Parsing a line of text items (updated) by AnomalousMonk
in thread Parsing a line of text items by mikkoi

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