local input = [[ local test = "Hello World!" print(test) ]] local results = input :gsub("(['\"\\])", "\\%1") :gsub("\n", "\\n") :gsub("\t", "\\t") :gsub(" ", "\\t") -- remove trailing \n if present if results:sub(-2) == "\\n" then results = results:sub(1, -3) end print(results)