Thanks! I worked up this mess 
#!

use Smart::Comments;
use strict;
use warnings;


    my $np;
    $np=qr/
             (?:\(                    # Capture the opening "("
                 (?:                  # 
                     '(?:[^']|\')*?'  #' a single quote string
                     |"(?:[^']|\")*?" #" a double quote string
                     | [^()]          # not a parentheses
                     | (??{$np})
                 )*
             \))                      # and the closing ")"
         /ix; 
    my $string;
    my $re;

    $string=<<'__EOString__';
        SELECT "SELECT * FROM table1 WHERE ...",'FROM WHERE' SQL FROM 
+table2 join(select from here to where eternity) WHERE ...
__EOString__
    $re=qr/
           ^([^'"(]* (?:"(?:[^']|\")*?"|'(?:[^']|\')*?'|$np)? )* 
           [^'"(]* 
           (\bFROM\b
               ([^'"(]* (?:"(?:[^']|\")*?"|'(?:[^']|\')*?'|$np)? )* 
               [^'"(]*?
           \bWHERE\b)
          /ix; # works

    ### $string
    while ($string =~ m{$re}ig) {
        ### @-
        ### @+
        ### $1
        ### $2
        ### $3
         };
    exit;

[download]
yielding ... 
### $string: '        SELECT "SELECT * FROM table1 WHERE ..." "FROM WH
+ERE"SQL FROM table2 join(select my mother from here to where eternity
+) WHERE ...'
Complex regular subexpression recursion limit (32766) exceeded at RE.p
+l line 45.
### @-: '0',
###     '64',
###     '64',
###     '127'
### @+: '132',
###     '64',
###     '132',
###     '127'            
### $1: '' 
### $2: 'FROM table2 join(select my mother from here to where eternity
+) WHERE'                                                      
### $3: ''

[download]

In reply to Re^2: REGEX search for words not in quotes. by Anonymous Monk
in thread REGEX search for words not in quotes. by Anonymous Monk

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • 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! —
  • 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:
    & &amp;
    < &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.