Alex's answer including suggestions in code, if you want to copy-paste:
import redef tex_escape(text):""" :param text: a plain text message :return: the message escaped to appear correctly in LaTeX""" conv = {'&': r'\&','%': r'\%','$': r'\$','#': r'\#','_': r'\_','{': r'\{','}': r'\}','~': r'\textasciitilde{}','^': r'\^{}','\\': r'\textbackslash{}','<': r'\textless{}','>': r'\textgreater{}', } regex = re.compile('|'.join(re.escape(str(key)) for key in sorted(conv.keys(), key = lambda item: - len(item)))) return regex.sub(lambda match: conv[match.group()], text)See Easiest way to replace a string using a dictionary of replacements? for replacement approach.