# subroutine name: escape
# URL-encode string
sub escape {
	my($toencode) = @_;
	$toencode=~s/([^a-zA-Z0-9_\-. ])/uc sprintf("%%%02x",ord($1))/eg;
	$toencode =~ tr/ /+/;	# spaces become pluses
	return $toencode;
}