--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/toolbox/util.py	Sun May 11 09:15:35 2014 -0700
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+"""
+utilities for toolbox
+"""
+
+try:
+    import json
+except ImportError:
+    import simplejson as json
+
+def strsplit(string):
+    """sensibly split a comma-separated string"""
+    string = string.strip()
+    if not string:
+        return []
+    return [i.strip() for i in string.split(',')]
+
+def strreplace(string, translation):
+    """replace substrings from a translation matrix"""
+    for key, value in translation.items():
+        string = string.replace(key, value)
+    return string
+
+def str2filename(string):
+    """converts a string to an acceptable filename"""
+    matrix = {' ': '_',
+              '>': '',
+              '<': '',
+              "'": '',
+              '"': '',
+              '&': '+',
+              '\\': '',
+              '\x00': '',
+              '/': ''}
+    return strreplace(string, matrix)
+
+
+class JSONEncoder(json.JSONEncoder):
+    """provide additional serialization for JSON"""
+
+    def default(self, obj):
+        if hasattr(obj, 'isoformat'):
+            return obj.isoformat()
+        if isinstance(obj, set):
+            return list(obj)
+
+        return json.JSONEncoder.default(self, obj)
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    # test the encoder
+    testjson = {}
+
+    # test date encoding
+    from datetime import datetime
+    testjson['date'] = datetime.now()
+
+    # test set encoding
+    testjson['set'] = set([1,2,3,2])
+
+    print json.dumps(testjson, cls=JSONEncoder)