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Documentation here: http://docs.python.org/library/pipes.html makes no mention of quote()
But the link to Source code: Lib/pipes.py http://hg.python.org/cpython/file/2.7/Lib/pipes.py has:
267 def quote(file):
268 """Return a shell-escaped version of the file string."""
269 for c in file:
270 if c not in _safechars:
271 break
272 else:
273 if not file:
274 return "''"
275 return file
276 # use single quotes, and put single quotes into double quotes
277 # the string $'b is then quoted as '$'"'"'b'
278 return "'" + file.replace("'", "'\"'\"'") + "'"
First _ever_ bug report, apologies if this is incorrect.