diff -r 40a1652349e9 Doc/library/fnmatch.rst
--- a/Doc/library/fnmatch.rst	Sun Oct 14 22:16:27 2012 +0200
+++ b/Doc/library/fnmatch.rst	Mon Oct 15 17:49:03 2012 +0300
@@ -70,12 +70,27 @@
    ``[n for n in names if fnmatch(n, pattern)]``, but implemented more efficiently.
 
 
+.. function:: escape(string)
+
+    Escape all special characters (``'?'``, ``'*'`` and ``'['``).
+    This is useful if you want to match an arbitrary literal string
+    that may have special characters in it.
+
+   Example:
+
+      >>> import fnmatch
+      >>>
+      >>> pat = '*' + fnmatch.escape('-[Converted].png')
+      >>> fnmatch.fnmatch('file_locked-[Converted].png', pat)
+      True
+
+   .. versionadded:: 3.4
+
+
 .. function:: translate(pattern)
 
    Return the shell-style *pattern* converted to a regular expression.
 
-   Be aware there is no way to quote meta-characters.
-
    Example:
 
       >>> import fnmatch, re
diff -r 40a1652349e9 Lib/fnmatch.py
--- a/Lib/fnmatch.py	Sun Oct 14 22:16:27 2012 +0200
+++ b/Lib/fnmatch.py	Mon Oct 15 17:49:03 2012 +0300
@@ -70,11 +70,20 @@
     match = _compile_pattern(pat)
     return match(name) is not None
 
+_magic_check = re.compile('([*?[])')
+_magic_check_bytes = re.compile(b'([*?[])')
+
+def escape(string):
+    """Escape all special characters.
+    """
+    # Escaping is done by wrapping any of "*?[" between square brackets.
+    if isinstance(string, bytes):
+        return _magic_check_bytes.sub(br'[\1]', string)
+    else:
+        return _magic_check.sub(r'[\1]', string)
 
 def translate(pat):
     """Translate a shell PATTERN to a regular expression.
-
-    There is no way to quote meta-characters.
     """
 
     i, n = 0, len(pat)
diff -r 40a1652349e9 Lib/test/test_fnmatch.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_fnmatch.py	Sun Oct 14 22:16:27 2012 +0200
+++ b/Lib/test/test_fnmatch.py	Mon Oct 15 17:49:03 2012 +0300
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 from test import support
 import unittest
 
-from fnmatch import fnmatch, fnmatchcase, translate, filter
+from fnmatch import fnmatch, fnmatchcase, translate, filter, escape
 
 class FnmatchTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
 
@@ -44,6 +44,20 @@
         check('\nfoo', 'foo*', False)
         check('\n', '*')
 
+    def test_escape(self):
+        # indirect tests
+        check = self.check_match
+        check('a[bc]', escape('a[bc]'))
+        check('a?c', escape('a?c'))
+        check('abc', escape('a?c'), False)
+        check('a*', escape('a*'))
+        check('abc', escape('a*'), False)
+
+        # direct tests
+        self.assertEqual(escape('['), '[[]')
+        self.assertEqual(escape('?'), '[?]')
+        self.assertEqual(escape('*'), '[*]')
+
     def test_mix_bytes_str(self):
         self.assertRaises(TypeError, fnmatch, 'test', b'*')
         self.assertRaises(TypeError, fnmatch, b'test', '*')
@@ -59,6 +73,7 @@
         self.check_match(b'test', b'te*')
         self.check_match(b'test\xff', b'te*\xff')
         self.check_match(b'foo\nbar', b'foo*')
+        self.check_match(b'a[b\xff]', escape(b'a[b\xff]'))
 
 class TranslateTestCase(unittest.TestCase):