protected static String quoteRegex(String regex) {
		if (regex == null) {
			return ""; //$NON-NLS-1$
		}
		return regex.replaceAll(REGEX_SPECIAL_CHARS, REGEX_SPECIAL_CHARS_PROTECT);
	}
protected static String quoteRegex ( String regex ) { if ( regex == null ) { return "" ; } return regex . replaceAll ( REGEX_SPECIAL_CHARS , REGEX_SPECIAL_CHARS_PROTECT ) ; }
Protect the given regular expression.

@param regex the expression to protect.
@return the protected expression.