Want to convert this:

abc "a\"bc$xyz$abc$x$y" $bla'h, $blah
hello k\$nob
this is "\"'abc$xy$z\"" test "$"
a$$bc "$$abc$xyz$abc$" blah, $$, blah
[download]

to:

abc "a\"bc\$xyz\$abc\$x\$y" $bla'h, $blah
hello k\$nob
this is "\"'abc\$xy\$z\"" test "\$"
a$$bc "\$\$abc\$xyz\$abc\$" blah, $$, blah
[download]

That is, escape (with \) all $ but only if they occur inside double-quoted strings. Here is my attempt:

my $str = <<'EOS';
abc "a\"bc$xyz$abc$x$y" $bla'h, $blah
hello k\$nob
this is "\"'abc$xy$z\"" test "$"
a$$bc "$$abc$xyz$abc$" blah, $$, blah
EOS
print "$str\n\n";

# $qq matches a double quoted string.
my $qq = qr/"[^"\\]*(?:\\.[^"\\]*)*"/;
# Break $str into fields (quoted or unquoted).
my @fields = $str =~ /$qq|[^"]+/g;
# Escape $ in quoted fields only.
/^"/ && s/\$/\\\$/g for @fields;
print @fields;
[download]

Improvements/alternative approaches welcome.

---

---

Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!

Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.

Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.

Please read these before you post! —

• How do I compose an effective node title?
• How do I post a question effectively?
• Markup in the Monastery

Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:

a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr

You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)

	For:		Use:
	&		&
	<		&lt;
	>		&gt;
	[		&#91;
	]		&#93;

Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?

See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.