Index: re.py
===================================================================
--- re.py	(revision 62549)
+++ re.py	(working copy)
@@ -196,23 +196,17 @@
     "Compile a template pattern, returning a pattern object"
     return _compile(pattern, flags|T)
 
-_alphanum = {}
-for c in 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ01234567890':
-    _alphanum[c] = 1
-del c
+_special = dict.fromkeys( r'.^$*+?{}[]\|()', 1)
 
 def escape(pattern):
-    "Escape all non-alphanumeric characters in pattern."
-    s = list(pattern)
-    alphanum = _alphanum
-    for i in range(len(pattern)):
-        c = pattern[i]
-        if c not in alphanum:
-            if c == "\000":
-                s[i] = "\\000"
-            else:
-                s[i] = "\\" + c
-    return pattern[:0].join(s)
+    "Escape all special characters in pattern."
+    holder = list(pattern)
+    for i, c in enumerate(pattern):
+        if c in _special:
+            holder[i] = "\\%c" % (c)
+        elif c == "\000":
+            holder[i] = "\\000"
+    return ''.join(holder)
 
 # --------------------------------------------------------------------
 # internals
Index: test/test_re.py
===================================================================
--- test/test_re.py	(revision 62549)
+++ test/test_re.py	(working copy)
@@ -4,7 +4,8 @@
 from test.test_support import verbose, run_unittest, catch_warning
 import re
 from re import Scanner
-import sys, os, traceback
+#import sys, 
+import os, traceback
 from weakref import proxy
 
 # Misc tests from Tim Peters' re.doc
@@ -431,17 +432,21 @@
         self.assertEqual(re.search("a\s", "a ").group(0), "a ")
 
     def test_re_escape(self):
-        p=""
+        p = ""
         for i in range(0, 256):
             p = p + chr(i)
             self.assertEqual(re.match(re.escape(chr(i)), chr(i)) is not None,
                              True)
             self.assertEqual(re.match(re.escape(chr(i)), chr(i)).span(), (0,1))
 
-        pat=re.compile(re.escape(p))
+        pat = re.compile(re.escape(p))
         self.assertEqual(pat.match(p) is not None, True)
         self.assertEqual(pat.match(p).span(), (0,256))
 
+        # All ASCII characters except NULL
+        same = ''.join( [chr(i) for i in range(1, 256) if chr(i) not in re._special] )
+        self.assertEqual(re.escape(same), same)
+
     def test_pickling(self):
         import pickle
         self.pickle_test(pickle)