If you are using a programming language that has more than three other
users, you should be able to find a library to parse it for you. A
quick Google-ing reveals libraries for CL, Haskell, Python,
JavaScript, Ruby, and so on. It is highly unlikely that you will need
to reinvent this wheel.
If you really have to write it from scratch, I recommend writing a
proper parser. With this technique, you won't have to escape things
with MD5 hashes. (I agree that if you have to do something like this,
it's time to reconsider your design.)
