code: def escape_latex(text):
      r
      text = unicode(text.decode('utf-8'))
      CHARS = {
          '&': r'\&',
          '%': r'\%',
          '$': r'\$',
          '#': r'\#',
          '_': r'\_',
          '{': r'\{',
          '}': r'\}',
          '~': r'\~{}',
          '^': r'\^{}',
          '\\': r'\textbackslash{}',
      }
      escaped = "".join([CHARS.get(char, char) for char in text])
      return escaped.encode('utf-8')
docs: r"""Escape characters of given text.
  
      This function takes the given text and escapes characters
      that have a special meaning in LaTeX: # $ % ^ & _ { } ~ \