Assuming you are running 5.10.0, 5.10.1, 5.12.0, or 5.12.1, use 
/(?|"([^"]+)"|(-))/

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that should put the match in $1, regardless which alternation matched.

If you are using a pre-5.10 perl, consider this a good reason to upgrade.

In reply to Re: Regex: Matching quoted text by JavaFan
in thread Regex: Matching quoted text by cmm7825

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