code: private String preProcessForSpecials(String predicate) 
    {
      if (TraceComponent.isAnyTracingEnabled() && tc.isEntryEnabled())
        tc.entry(cclass,
                 "preProcessForSpecials",
                 "predicate: " + predicate);     
      String processed = predicate;
     
      String replace = replaceSpecialsWithSub(predicate);
  
      if (replace != null)
      {
        processed = replace;      
      }
      
      if (TraceComponent.isAnyTracingEnabled() && tc.isEntryEnabled())
        tc.exit(this,cclass, "preProcessForSpecials", processed);    
      return processed; 
    }
docs: Locate and replace any special characters that are going to cause problems
  fr the MatchParser.
  
  @param predicate
  @return