diff --git a/Source/cmSystemTools.cxx b/Source/cmSystemTools.cxx
index de181f099..c05238a31 100644
--- a/Source/cmSystemTools.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmSystemTools.cxx
@@ -321,6 +321,19 @@ std::string cmSystemTools::EscapeSpaces(const char* str)
 #endif
 }
 
+std::string cmSystemTools::EscapeQuotes(const char* str)
+{
+  std::string result = "";
+  for(const char* ch = str; *ch != '\0'; ++ch)
+    {
+    if(*ch == '"')
+      {
+      result += '\\';
+      }
+    result += *ch;
+    }
+  return result;
+}
 
 // return true if the file exists
 bool cmSystemTools::FileExists(const char* filename)
diff --git a/Source/cmSystemTools.h b/Source/cmSystemTools.h
index df5d2d5a7..87f63c7c0 100644
--- a/Source/cmSystemTools.h
+++ b/Source/cmSystemTools.h
@@ -78,6 +78,12 @@ public:
    */
   static std::string EscapeSpaces(const char*);
   
+  /**
+   * Return a string equivalent to the input string, but with all " replaced
+   * with \"  to escape the quote
+   */
+  static std::string EscapeQuotes(const char*);
+
   /**
    * Return a capitalized string (i.e the first letter is uppercased, all other
    * are lowercased).