Regex To Match Words And Those With An Apostrophe

Update: As per comments regarding the ambiguity of my question, I've increased the detail in the question. (Terminology: by words I am refering to any succession of alphanumerical

Solution 1:

Try using this:

(?=.*\w)^(\w|')+$

'bout     # pass
it's      # pass
persons'  # pass
'         # fail
''        # fail

Regex Explanation

NODE      EXPLANATION
  (?=       look ahead to see if there is:
    .*        any character except \n (0 or more times
              (matching the most amount possible))
    \w        word characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9, _)
  )         end of look-ahead
  ^         the beginning of the string
  (         group and capture to \1 (1 or more times
            (matching the most amount possible)):
    \w        word characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9, _)
   |         OR
    '         '\''
  )+        end of \1 (NOTE: because you're using a
            quantifier on this capture, only the LAST
            repetition of the captured pattern will be
            stored in \1)
  $         before an optional \n, and the end of the
            string

Solution 2:

/('\w+)|(\w+'\w+)|(\w+')|(\w+)/

• '\w+ Matches a ' followed by one or more alpha characters, OR
• \w+'\w+ Matche sone or more alpha characters followed by a ' followed by one or more alpha characters, OR
• \w+' Matches one or more alpha characters followed by a '
• \w+ Matches one or more alpha characters

Solution 3:

How about this?

'?\b[0-9A-Za-z']+\b'?

EDIT: the previous version doesn't include apostrophes on the sides.

Solution 4:

I submitted this 2nd answer coz it looks like the question has changed quite a bit and my previous answer is no longer valid. Anyway, if all conditions are listed up, try this:

(((?<!')')?\b[0-9A-Za-z]+\b('(?!'))?|\b[0-9A-Za-z]+('[0-9A-Za-z]+)*\b)

Solution 5:

This works fine

 ('*)(?:'')*('?(?:\w+'?)+\w+('\b|'?[^']))(\1)

on this data no problem

    'bou
    it's
    persons'
    'open'
    open
    foo''bar
    ''foo
    bee''
    ''foo''
    '
    ''

on this data you should strip result (remove spaces from matches)

    'bou it's persons' 'open' open foo''bar ''foo ''foo'' ' ''

(tested in The Regulator, results in $2)