[python] Escape regex special characters in a Python string

Does Python have a function that I can use to escape special characters in a regular expression?

For example, I'm "stuck" :\ should become I\'m \"stuck\" :\\.

As it was mentioned above, the answer depends on your case. If you want to escape a string for a regular expression then you should use re.escape(). But if you want to escape a specific set of characters then use this lambda function:

>>> escape = lambda s, escapechar, specialchars: "".join(escapechar + c if c in specialchars or c == escapechar else c for c in s)
>>> s = raw_input()
I'm "stuck" :\
>>> print s
I'm "stuck" :\
>>> print escape(s, "\\", ['"'])
I'm \"stuck\" :\\

Use repr()[1:-1]. In this case, the double quotes don't need to be escaped. The [-1:1] slice is to remove the single quote from the beginning and the end.

>>> x = raw_input()
I'm "stuck" :\
>>> print x
I'm "stuck" :\
>>> print repr(x)[1:-1]
I\'m "stuck" :\\

Or maybe you just want to escape a phrase to paste into your program? If so, do this:

>>> raw_input()
I'm "stuck" :\
'I\'m "stuck" :\\'

If you only want to replace some characters you could use this:

import re

print re.sub(r'([\.\\\+\*\?\[\^\]\$\(\)\{\}\!\<\>\|\:\-])', r'\\\1', "example string.")

It's not that hard:

def escapeSpecialCharacters ( text, characters ):
    for character in characters:
        text = text.replace( character, '\\' + character )
    return text

>>> escapeSpecialCharacters( 'I\'m "stuck" :\\', '\'"' )
'I\\\'m \\"stuck\\" :\\'
>>> print( _ )
I\'m \"stuck\" :\

I'm surprised no one has mentioned using regular expressions via re.sub():

import re
print re.sub(r'([\"])',    r'\\\1', 'it\'s "this"')  # it's \"this\"
print re.sub(r"([\'])",    r'\\\1', 'it\'s "this"')  # it\'s "this"
print re.sub(r'([\" \'])', r'\\\1', 'it\'s "this"')  # it\'s\ \"this\"

Important things to note:

• In the search pattern, include \ as well as the character(s) you're looking for. You're going to be using \ to escape your characters, so you need to escape that as well.
• Put parentheses around the search pattern, e.g. ([\"]), so that the substitution pattern can use the found character when it adds \ in front of it. (That's what \1 does: uses the value of the first parenthesized group.)
• The r in front of r'([\"])' means it's a raw string. Raw strings use different rules for escaping backslashes. To write ([\"]) as a plain string, you'd need to double all the backslashes and write '([\\"])'. Raw strings are friendlier when you're writing regular expressions.
• In the substitution pattern, you need to escape \ to distinguish it from a backslash that precedes a substitution group, e.g. \1, hence r'\\\1'. To write that as a plain string, you'd need '\\\\\\1' — and nobody wants that.