[pjtr]

I don't understand the reasons. What is the actual problem in this "even-odd problem"?

How do all the other languages that have an equivalent function (Perl quotemeta, PHP preg_quote, Python re.escape, Ruby: Regexp.escape, Java Pattern.quote, C# Regex.Escape, Go QuoteMeta, Rust regex::escape) avoid or deal with this problem?

[scrollaway]

They don't. The reasons are frankly idiotic.

The first couple of comments as well as the very last one from April in that thread all sum it up quite well.