Replace special characters in Script

function escape_for_xml(newString) {
      /* replace the special characters */
      try{
            if (newString != "" && newString != null) {
				newString = newString.replace(/&/g, '&');
                newString = newString.replace(/</g, '&lt;');
                newString = newString.replace(/>/g, '&gt;');
                newString = newString.replace(/"/g, '&quot;');
                newString = newString.replace(/'/g, '&apos;');
                return newString;
            } else {
                return "";
            }
      }catch(e){
        log.debug("error @escape_for_xml",e);
        return "";
      }

}