s{
    (\s*/[*].*?[*]/\s*)     # $1: /* comment */
  | \s*//[^\n]*             # // comment
  (                         # $2: something to keep:
  | '([^\\']+|\\.)*'        #   '\t'
  | "([^\\"]+|\\.)*"        #   "string"
  | /(?![/*])               #   Non-comment /
  | [^'"/]+                 #   Other code
  )
  | (.)                     # $3: A syntax error (unclosed ' or ")
}{
    if(  defined $3  ) {
        warn "Ignoring syntax error ($3) at byte ", pos(), $/;
    }
    $1          ? ' ' :     # "foo  /*...*/bar" => "foo bar"
    defined $2  ? $2  :     # Keep non-comment as-is
    defined $3  ? $3        # Keep syntax error as-is
                : ''        # "foo  // ...\n" => "foo\n"
}gsex;