question: private String safe ( String src ) { StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer ( ) ; for ( int i = 0 ; i < src . length ( ) ; i ++ ) { char c = src . charAt ( i ) ; if ( c >= 32 && c < 128 ) { sb . append ( c ) ; } else { sb . append ( "<" + ( int ) c + ">" ) ; } } return sb . toString ( ) ; }
target:  convert a string to one in which any non-printable bytes are replaced by "<###>" where ## is the value of the byte.