Takes a string of code and converts each special character to HTML entities.

convert_code_to_htmlent.lobster

import std

// should cover the main "problematic" characters
def char_to_entity(char):
    return switch(char):
        case "|" : "|"
        case "_" : "_"
        case ";" : ";"
        case "#" : "#"
        case "-" : "‐"
        case "<" : "&lt;"
        case ">" : "&gt;"
        case "*" : "&ast;"
        case "\n": "<br />"
        case "\t", " ": "&nbsp;"
        default: char

def string_to_safe(str):
    let converted =
        str.map() t: char_to_entity(unicode_to_string([t]))

    return concat_string(converted, "")

// so meta!
let code =
"""
def string_to_safe(str):
    let converted =
        str.map() t: char_to_entity(unicode_to_string([t]))

    return concat_string(converted, "")
"""

print string_to_safe(code)
// output: def&nbsp;string&lowbar;to&lowbar;safe(str):<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;let&nbsp;converted&nbsp;=<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;str.map()&nbsp;t:&nbsp;char&lowbar;to&lowbar;entity(unicode&lowbar;to&lowbar;string([t]))<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;return&nbsp;concat&lowbar;string(converted,&nbsp;"")<br />