Reversible replacement of whitespace characters with visible characters

[Micah]

James Stroud wrote:
> Micah wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I'm looking for a tool to do the following 2 things:
> >
> > 1) Given a string (ie. file, std input, whatever), replace all
> > whitespace characters with visible characters (like their Unicode value
> > or something).  The end result will be one long unbroken line
> >
> > 2) Given a string altered as in step 1, "decode" it back to the
> > original string.
> >
> > Note: The original string (it will usually be source files) might
> > already contain Unicode values, and these must remain and not be
> > altered in step 2.
> >
> > Note 2: I'm working in a Windows XP environment, but I have access to
> > cygwin if that makes a difference.
> >
> > Can anyone think of a tool that already does this?  I could probably
> > whip something up, but if there's already something that does it I'd
> > rather just use it.
> >
> > Micah
> >
>
> Try urllib.
>
> py> import urllib
> py> astr = 'faf\tfasf dsf\ndsfds dsf dsaf \t\r'
> py> urllib.quote(astr)
> 'faf%09fasf%20dsf%0Adsfds%20dsf%20dsaf%20%09%0D'
> py> print astr
> faf     fasf dsf
> dsfds dsf dsaf
>
> James
>
> --
> James Stroud
> UCLA-DOE Institute for Genomics and Proteomics
> Box 951570
> Los Angeles, CA 90095
>
> http://www.jamesstroud.com/


Perfect!! Just what I was looking for!