function escapeshellarg (arg) {
  // http://kevin.vanzonneveld.net
  // +   original by: Felix Geisendoerfer (http://www.debuggable.com/felix)
  // +   improved by: Brett Zamir (http://brett-zamir.me)
  // *     example 1: escapeshellarg("kevin's birthday");
  // *     returns 1: "'kevin\'s birthday'"
  var ret = '';

  ret = arg.replace(/[^\\]'/g, function (m, i, s) {
    return m.slice(0, 1) + '\\\'';
  });

  return "'" + ret + "'";
}

escapeshellarg("kevin's birthday");

"'kevin\'s birthday'"