def unescape(text, restore_backslashes=False, respect_whitespace=False):
    """
    Return a string with nulls removed or restored to backslashes.
    Backslash-escaped spaces are also removed.
    """
    if restore_backslashes:
        return text.replace('\x00', '\\')
    else:
        for sep in ['\x00 ', '\x00\n', '\x00']:
            text = ''.join(text.split(sep))
        return text
