code: public static String unescape (String value)
      {
          int bsidx = value.indexOf('\\');
          if (bsidx == -1) {
              return value;
          }
  
          StringBuilder buf = new StringBuilder();
          int vlength = value.length();
          for (int ii = 0; ii < vlength; ii++) {
              char ch = value.charAt(ii);
              if (ch != '\\' || ii == vlength-1) {
                  buf.append(ch);
              } else {
                  // look at the next character
                  ch = value.charAt(++ii);
                  buf.append((ch == '!') ? '|' : ch);
              }
          }
  
          return buf.toString();
      }
docs: Unescapes characters that are escaped in a call to compose.