irc-oct-23.rb

require "strscan"
string = "aaa bbb ccc/'ddd eee/fff ggg' hhh/jjj 'kkk lll'"

class Scanner
  def initialize(string)
    @scanner = StringScanner.new(string)
  end

  def scan
    matches = []
    inside_quote = false
    current = ""

    until @scanner.eos?
      ch = @scanner.getch

      case ch
      when "'"
        inside_quote = !inside_quote
        current << ch
      when " "
        if inside_quote
          current << ch
        else
          matches << current
          current = ""
        end
      else
        current << ch
      end
    end

    matches << current

    matches
  end
end

pp Scanner.new(string).scan
pp ["aaa", "bbb", "ccc/'ddd eee/fff ggg'", "hhh/jjj", "'kkk lll'"]