How does this look (patch is on top of [id://patchable settings;displaycode|previous patch]): 
--- Everything.pm    2004-10-05 11:28:38.716515200 -0700
+++ Everything.pm.new    2004-10-05 11:31:58.093204800 -0700
@@ -261,13 +261,28 @@ sub unescape
 sub unpackVars
 {
     my ($vars) = @_;
+    my $format_version = "00";
+
+    # version 00: original format
+    # version 01: keys are escaped, not just values
+    $format_version = $1 if $vars =~ s/^==(\d\d)&//;
 
     return {} unless $vars;
 
-    my %vars = map { split /=/ } split (/&/, $vars);
-    foreach (keys %vars) {
-        unescape $vars{$_};
-        if ($vars{$_} eq ' ') { $vars{$_} = ""; }
+    my %vars;
+
+    for (split /&/, $vars) {
+        my ($k,$v) = split /=/;
+
+        if ($format_version > 0) {
+            unescape( $k, $v );
+        } else {
+            unescape( $v );
+        }
+
+        $v = '' if $v eq ' ';
+
+        $vars{$k} = $v;
     }
 
     return \%vars;
@@ -296,7 +311,9 @@ sub packVars
         $$varsref{$_} = " " unless $$varsref{$_};
     }
 
-    return join("&", map( $_."=".escape($$varsref{$_}), keys %$varsre
+f) );
+    # current format version: 01
+    return join("&", "==01",
+        map( escape($_)."=".escape($$varsref{$_}), keys %$varsref) );
 }
 
 #####################################################################
+########

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I think I've placed more emphasis (or at least tried to) on readability and reuse than what you had suggested. I'm guessing it will be about as fast as the existing code. If you are ok with this, I'll try it out on the test server.

In reply to Re^4: patchable settings by ysth
in thread patchable settings by ysth

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