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Removing quotes within quotes

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# 1  
Old 08-31-2013
Removing quotes within quotes
Hello everyone,

I am working on a file with thousands of lines and instead of manually removing them I need a script to remove quotes within quotes. For example a line may have something such as this:

Code:
"Hey, I was ready to go on stage or "break a leg", but I failed miserably."

So I need to remove the quotes around break a leg with something such as awk or sed. Does anyone know how to do this? I've looked online for different examples but did not find anything. If someone could offer up a solution this would save me a ton of time and I would sincerely appreciate!
# 2  
Old 08-31-2013
That's not a trivial task. In fact, with the "sample" you've given us, it's likely impossible!

Please provide a broader sample of the text.
# 3  
Old 08-31-2013
I didn't know that it was that non trivial of a task. My mistake. The thing is that the " " inside the " " occur in random places.

Code:
"Of course, never say never. This is perhaps a "See you later"rather than a "Goodbye". Thank you for reading."

"I\'ve been rehabilitated. It\'s such a "wonderful" account of her journey."

Also, if it matters I'm working in notepad++.
# 4  
Old 08-31-2013
If the outer " are always at BOL and EOL, try
Code:
awk '{gsub (/^"|"$/, "\001"); gsub (/"/, ""); gsub ("\001", "\"")} 1' file
"Of course, never say never. This is perhaps a See you laterrather than a Goodbye. Thank you for reading."
"I\'ve been rehabilitated. It\'s such a wonderful account of her journey."

# 5  
Old 08-31-2013
It's easy if the line always starts and ends with a quote:
Code:
$ sed '/^$/n;s/"//g;s/^/"/;s/$/"/' file
"Of course, never say never. This is perhaps a See you laterrather than a Goodbye. Thank you for reading."

"I\'ve been rehabilitated. It\'s such a wonderful account of her journey."

Otherwise, it's not so easy - for example, if quoted strings span lines.
# 6  
Old 08-31-2013
OK, try this:
Code:
awk     'match ($0, /^[^"]*"/)  {$0=substr($0,1,RLENGTH-1) "\001" substr ($0,RLENGHTH+1)}
         match ($0, /"[^"]*$/)  {$0=substr($0,1,RSTART-1) "\001" substr ($0,RSTART+1)}   
                                {gsub (/"/, ""); gsub ("\001", "\"")}
         1
        ' file

# 7  
Old 08-31-2013
Yes, the line itself always begins and ends with a quote. I will try both of your solutions and report back as soon as I can. Thank you very much for your guidance and help.
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