Why this tool exists
Escape regex metacharacters without remembering quoting rules. Paste text, run `quotemeta`, and copy the literal output for dashboards or configs.
Regex literals
Escape metacharacters before pasting text into a regular expression literal or firewall rule.
Search tooling
Prepare marketing copy or support tickets before dropping them into Elastic/Splunk dashboards without wildcards firing.
Automation scripts
Quote meta text before embedding it into shell scripts, Terraform, or config templates where punctuation matters.
Quick start
One mode, zero guesswork: paste, escape, copy.
- Open Quote Meta Helper and paste the text you need to escape.
- Submit to run PHP’s `quotemeta` server-side so every regex metacharacter receives a backslash.
- Copy the output directly into your search tool, firewall rule, or config template.
Supported inputs
- Accepts any UTF-8 string, including emoji or multilingual characters.
- Preserves whitespace and newline characters exactly as entered.
- No length-based trimming—the helper mirrors the Text Lab limits so large payloads are safe.
Workflow highlights
See how presets, status badges, and metrics keep escaping transparent.
- Single-mode workflow keeps the UI simple: paste, escape, copy.
- Sample presets showcase regex literals and marketing headlines so you can preview escaping behaviour quickly.
- Status badge reports success/failure and metrics reflect input/output lengths for validation.
Outputs & QA
Confirm the escaped string before shipping it to search or automation tools.
- Copy button uses the escaped payload directly so you avoid manual selection.
- Metrics show how the escaped string grew, useful when budgeting length-sensitive configs.
- Error states surface inline if the payload cannot be escaped (rare, but gives confidence during audits).
Field notes
Guardrails for literal strings and regex-heavy workflows.
- Run Quote Meta before pasting user-supplied strings into firewall rules or path-based regex.
- Pair with Slash Escape or Encoding + Escape Lab when you also need JSON or HTML-safe transformations.
- Keep the escaped payloads in version control alongside your automation scripts so reviewers can diff changes.
- Reset between payloads to avoid accidentally chaining escapes on top of already-safe text.