Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!karl
From: karl@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Karl Kleinpaste)
Newsgroups: comp.emacs
Subject: GNU Emacs string modification question
Message-ID: <11715@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu>
Date: 27 Apr 88 04:23:40 GMT
Organization: OSU
Lines: 11

I have a variable which has been setq'd to a string value.  The string
may contain characters which are special to RE searches, but I need
the characters to be used literally in searches.  (Specifically, I am
looking at newsgroup name searches in the vn emulator, possibly
containing +'s, e.g., comp.lang.c++.)  I cannot avoid performing the
search as re-search-forward; plain search-forward will not do, due to
the need to find "[:!]" following the newsgroup name.  Can anyone give
me a simple function which takes a string argument and inserts
backslashes (\) in front of RE-special characters within the string?

--Karl