This is a bit simpler and produces the correct result from your sample. 

$_ = do{ local $/; <DATA> };
s[("[^\n"]+\n[^"]+")][ (my $x = $1) =~ s[\s+][ ]g; $x ]ge;
print;
"boom"
hello "" bill
"baz hello jock"
"boom2"
 abc "baz2 hello2 jock2 "

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In reply to Re: Changing quoted strings spanning more than one line by BrowserUk
in thread Changing quoted strings spanning more than one line by eyepopslikeamosquito

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