code: protected String escape(final Object src) {
  
  		final StringBuilder output = new StringBuilder();
  		final String input         = src.toString();
  
  		for (int i = 0; i < input.length(); i++) {
  
  			final char c        = input.charAt(i);
  			final String prefix = SPECIAL_CHARS.get(c);
  
  			if (prefix != null) {
  				output.append(prefix);
  			}
  
  			output.append(c);
  		}
  
  		return output.toString();
  	}
docs: ----- private methods -----