def unquote(cls, string):
        """ Removes quotes from a quoted string.

        Splunk search command quote rules are applied. The enclosing double-quotes, if present, are removed. Escaped
        double-quotes ('\"' or '""') are replaced by a single double-quote ('"').

        **NOTE**

        We are not using a json.JSONDecoder because Splunk quote rules are different than JSON quote rules. A
        json.JSONDecoder does not recognize a pair of double-quotes ('""') as an escaped quote ('"') and will
        decode single-quoted strings ("'") in addition to double-quoted ('"') strings.

        """
        if len(string) == 0:
            return ''

        if string[0] == '"':
            if len(string) == 1 or string[-1] != '"':
                raise SyntaxError('Poorly formed string literal: ' + string)
            string = string[1:-1]

        if len(string) == 0:
            return ''

        def replace(match):
            value = match.group(0)
            if value == '""':
                return '"'
            if len(value) < 2:
                raise SyntaxError('Poorly formed string literal: ' + string)
            return value[1]

        result = re.sub(cls._escaped_character_re, replace, string)
        return result