#!/usr/bin/env python # -*- coding: utf-8 -*- import re _find_unsafe = re.compile(r'[^\w@%+=:,./-]').search def quote(s): """Return a shell-escaped version of the string *s*.""" if not s: return "''" if _find_unsafe(s) is None: return s # use single quotes, and put single quotes into double quotes # the string $'b is then quoted as '$'"'"'b' return "'" + s.replace("'", "'\"'\"'") + "'"