RegEx used with String.protoype.replace to replace all single quotes with double quotes in the text and ignoring single quotes used for contractions.

replaceSingleQuoteWithDoubleQuote.js

//Replace Single quote with double quote in a text regularExpression. 
let reg = /([^\w])'(.+)'([^\w])/ig;
let text = "and then he said : 'Oh no rick, don't kill me please'. And rick replied : 'frick off kid' knowing he won't."; 
let replaced = text.replace(reg, '$1"$2"$3');