Escape all values in a recursive dictionary. Great for sanitizing JSON inputs

escape_dict.py

#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-


def escape(s):
    escaped = unicode(s)\
        .replace('&', '&')\
        .replace('<', '&gt;')\
        .replace('>', '&lt;')\
        .replace("'", '&#39;')\
        .replace('"', '&#34;')
    return escaped


def escape_dict(data):
    """
    Recursively escape all values in a dictionary
    :param data:
    :return: escaped dictionary
    :rtype: dict
    """
    if isinstance(data, list):
        for x, l in enumerate(data):
            if isinstance(l, dict) or isinstance(l, list):
                escape_dict(l)
            else:
                if l is not None:
                    data[x] = escape(l)

    if isinstance(data, dict):
        for k, v in data.iteritems():
            if isinstance(v, dict) or isinstance(v, list):
                escape_dict(v)
            else:
                if v is not None:
                    data[k] = escape(v)
        return data


if __name__ == '__main__':
    data = {'name': 'brent',
            'address': {
                'line1': '<strong>8008 Norton Ave #2</strong>',
                'city': '&West Hollywood',
                'state': 'CA',
                'other_name':
                    {'nick"Nick"_name': 'Freddy', 'pet_name': 'honey bunch'},
                'silly_names':
                    ["jimmy 'this jimmy' jones", '<strong>perplexed</strong>', 'sandwich']
            }}

    escaped_data = escape_dict(data)
    print(escaped_data)