Special character escaping - groovy

Question

All groovy special character #{\'}${"}/', needs to be replaced by \ in front in a groovy string dynamically
input : anish$spe{cial
output : anish\$spe\{cial
input : anish}stack{overflow'
output : anish\}stack\{overflow\'
I have written a sample program in Java, that i want in groovier way
import java.util.regex.*;
import java.io.*;
/**
*
* #author anish
*
*/
public class EscapeSpecialChar {
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
inputString();
}
private static void inputString() throws IOException {
BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
System.out.print("Enter string to find special characters: ");
String string = in.readLine();
// Escape the pattern
string = escapeRE(string);
System.out.println("output: -- " + string);
}
// Returns a pattern where all punctuation characters are escaped.
static Pattern escaper = Pattern.compile("([^a-zA-z0-9])");
public static String escapeRE(String str) {
return escaper.matcher(str).replaceAll("\\\\$1");
}
}
Enter string to find special characters: $Anish(Stack%1231+#$124{}
output: -- \$Anish\(Stack\%1231\+\#\$124\{\}

Answer 1

This does what your Java code does:
System.console().with {
def inStr = readLine 'Enter string to find special characters: '
def outStr = inStr.replaceAll( /([^a-zA-Z0-9])/, '\\\\$1' )
println "Output: $outStr"
}
I am still dubious that what I think you are doing is a good idea though... ;-)