Command to escape a string in bash

Question

I need a bash command that will convert a string to something that is escaped. Here\'s an example:

echo \"hello\\world\" | escape | someprog

Answer 1

In Bash:

printf "%q" "hello\world" | someprog

for example:

printf "%q" "hello\world"
hello\\world

This could be used through variables too:

printf -v var "%q\n" "hello\world"
echo "$var"
hello\\world