java - Replace quotes which are not inside word -

i have long string containing several words.

some of these words have apostrophe eg . don't . words have apostrophe outside words example '''movieis great ''' or ''lot of apostrophe ''''' .

i want remove apostrophe not part of word.

for example in string = don't try ''''remove apostr inside'''' word'. output should don't try remove apostr inside word.

i wrote regex .*[^a-z]'[^a-z].* not getting desired output in java code.  string s = "don't try ''''remove apostr inside'''' word'"; s = s.replace(".*[^a-z]'[^a-z].*", " "); 

note .replace() replaces literal strings , not allow regex search argument.

you may use regex match apostrophes not enclosed word boundaries:

string s = "don't try ''''remove apostr inside'''' word' 'żoł'"; s = s.replaceall("(?u)\\b'\\b|\\b'\\b|\\b'\\b", ""); system.out.println(s); 

see online java demo

here, \b word boundary, \b position other word boundary , (?u) makes \b , \b unicode aware.