spamassassin blocked my previous post :-(((( copy below: what i got: lines (strings) of the fo_ll_ow_ing fo_rm ---- start of example-lines ---- foo "foobar"; bar "foo" "bar"; fob "foo \"bar\""; ---- end of example-lines ---- i want a regexp, which returns me the following (applied with String::scan) from the given lines: ["foobar"] ["foo","bar"] ["foo \"bar\""] i thought about something like: /"([^"]|\\")+"/ explanation of my idea: 1. the match should start with a " 2. then it should continue with one or more (anything which is not " or which is \") 3. the match should end with a " 4. the 'or \"' thing in 2. is needed because i don't want the match to end at a '\"' - it should only end at a single '"' without a '\' in front of it well - my approach isn't working. i wonder if i just got a detail wrong or if i messed up the whole thing and talk nonsense all the way.... thx beforehand for tipps... patrick