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run code in 300+ PHP versions simultaneously
<?php $str = 'abc | xx ?? "1 x \' 3" d e f \' y " 5 \' x yz'; echo preg_replace('~(?<!\\\\)(?:\\\\{2})*(?:"[^"\\\\]*(?:\\\\.[^"\\\\]*)*"|\'[^\'\\\\]*(?:\\\\.[^\'\\\\]*)*\')(*SKIP)(?!)|\s+~s', '', $str);
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 - 8.1.33, 8.2.0 - 8.2.29, 8.3.0 - 8.3.27, 8.4.1 - 8.4.14
abc|xx??"1 x ' 3"def' y " 5 'xyz

preferences:
119.21 ms | 407 KiB | 5 Q