$/ = undef;
$string = <>;
 
$string =~ s{--\[\[([^\]]|\][^\]])*--[^\r\n]*\]\]|("(\\.|[^"\\])*"|'(\\.|[^'\\])*'|.[^-"'\\]*)}{defined $2 ? $2 : ""}gse;
$string =~ s{--[^\n\r]*|(\[\[([^\]]|\][^\]])*\]\]|"(\\.|[^"\\])*"|'(\\.|[^'\\])*'|.([^-\["'\\]|\[[^-\["'\\])*)}{defined $1 ? $1 : ""}gse;
$string =~ s{\s+|(\[\[([^\]]|\][^\]])*\]\]|"(\\.|[^"\\])*"|'(\\.|[^'\\])*'|.([^-\s\["'\\]|\[[^-\s\["'\\])*)}{defined $1 ? $1 : " "}gse;
$string =~ s{
	\ ?([-+*\/%^={}().,;[\]])\ ? ## this matches every character lua doesn't care about wether a space is in front/behind of it. Example: "a = 5" equals "a=5".
	| ## the part that makes quotes immume to the above match
	( ## open the second catch
		\[\[ ## an escape string opens
		(
			[^\]]|\][^\]] ## match until closure
		)*
		\]\] ## close
	|
		" ## an quote opens
		(
			\\. ##  escaped char (to prevent closure on \")
		|
			[^"\\] ## not " or \
		)*
		" ## close
	|
		' ## an quote opens
		(
			\\. ##  escaped char (to prevent closure on \")
		|
			[^'\\] ## not ' or \
		)*
		' ##  close
	|
		. ## any char
		([^-\ +*\/%^={}().,;[\]\["'\\]|\[[^-\ +*\/%^={}(),;[\]\["'\\])* ## none of the things that we want to match for
	)
}{
	defined $2 ? $2 : "$1"
}gxse;
 
print $string;