How to add double quotes to the string?

Question

I have a Json-like string like this:

{cid: {ABCD[1]_TYPE, [text]: alphabets, time: 1/12/2010, author: xyz, best_chapter: 10.5}

And I need to add double quotes to every string to make it look like a real Json:

{"cid": {"ABCD[1]_TYPE", "[text]": "alphabets", "time": "1/12/2010", "author": "xyz", "best_chapter": "10.5"}}

I've already done this:

val jsonString = str.replaceAll("(\\w+/.)", "\"$1\"")

My regex fails and it escapes the Square Brackets like this:

{"cid": {"ABCD"["1"]"_TYPE", [""text""]: "alphabets", "time": "1/12/2010", "author": "xyz", "best_chapter": "10.5"}}

Any idea how to make the double quotes include that.

Answer 1

Instead of trying to describe everything that should be quoted, and escaping all the special characters, it might be easier to describe what should not be quoted.

str.replaceAll("([^\\s:,{}]+)", "\"$1\"")