3v4l.org

run code in 500+ PHP versions simultaneously
<?php $re = '/(?<!\\\\)([\'"])(?:(?!(?:\1|\\\\)).|\\\\.)*+\1(*SKIP)(*FAIL)|\h+/m'; $str = 'abc | xx ?? "1 x \\\' 3" d e f \\\' y " 5 \\\' x yz abc | xx ?? \'1 x \\" 3\' d e f \\\' y " 5 \\\' x yz '; $result = preg_replace($re, '', $str); echo $result;
Output for 7.2.0 - 7.2.34, 7.3.0 - 7.3.33, 7.4.0 - 7.4.33, 8.0.0 - 8.0.30, 8.1.0 - 8.1.34, 8.2.0 - 8.2.30, 8.3.0 - 8.3.30, 8.4.1 - 8.4.18, 8.5.0 - 8.5.6
abc|xx??"1 x \' 3"def\'y"5\'xyz abc|xx??'1 x \" 3'def\'y"5\'xyz

preferences:
107.3 ms | 1499 KiB | 4 Q