[FWP] Stripping quoted strings and comments

[Ariel Scolnicov <ariels@compugen.co.il>]

Today I had to write some code to strip both quoted strings and
comments from a string.  Here are the exact rules:

* Strings appear in double quotes (and are terminated one the same
  line).  Any character inside the double quotes preceded by a
  backslash is "quoted", and in particular the sequences `\"' and `\\' 
  denote a double quote and a backslash in the quoted string.
  Obviously, this only applies to double quotes outside comments!

* Anything from a semicolon (`;') to the end of the line is a
  comment.  Obviously, this only applies to semicolons outside
  strings!

Here's what it looks like in the Perl debugger:

DB<> p unquote '1 "\;2) \" 3; " x";" 4'
1  x 4

(the strings are `"\;2) \" 3; "' and `";"')

DB<> p unquote '1 ";2) \" 3; "x;" 4'
1 x

(there's a string `";2) \" 3; "', and a comment `;" 4')


An amazingly readable (to Martians) regexp replacement can do this!
Of course, it helps to have read Friedl's _Mastering Regular
Expressions_ (and even more to have stolen his string-matching
regexp).

-- 
Ariel Scolnicov        |"GCAAGAATTGAACTGTAG"            |ariels@compugen.co.il
Compugen Ltd.          |Tel: +972-2-6795059 (Jerusalem)	\  NEW IMPROVED URL!
72 Pinhas Rosen St.    |Tel: +972-3-7658520 (Main office)`--------------------
Tel-Aviv 69512, ISRAEL |Fax: +972-3-7658555  http://3w.compugen.co.il/~ariels

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