2 files changed, 12 insertions, 4 deletions
diff --git a/src/libutil/util.cc b/src/libutil/util.cc
index 3c98a61f9e50..9346d5dc4cf8 100644
--- a/src/libutil/util.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/util.cc
@@ -1142,6 +1142,16 @@ std::string toLower(const std::string & s)
 }
 
 
+std::string shellEscape(const std::string & s)
+{
+    std::string r = "'";
+    for (auto & i : s)
+        if (i == '\'') r += "'\\''"; else r += i;
+    r += '\'';
+    return r;
+}
+
+
 void ignoreException()
 {
     try {
diff --git a/src/libutil/util.hh b/src/libutil/util.hh
index 6a66576e96ce..fccf5d854800 100644
--- a/src/libutil/util.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/util.hh
@@ -352,10 +352,8 @@ bool hasSuffix(const string & s, const string & suffix);
 std::string toLower(const std::string & s);
 
 
-/* Escape a string that contains octal-encoded escape codes such as
-   used in /etc/fstab and /proc/mounts (e.g. "foo\040bar" decodes to
-   "foo bar"). */
-string decodeOctalEscaped(const string & s);
+/* Escape a string as a shell word. */
+std::string shellEscape(const std::string & s);
 
 
 /* Exception handling in destructors: print an error message, then