Simplify the following method : <p>The following method needs simplification so that lines become relatively small.</p>

<pre><code>    def rep(m):
        if m.group(0) == " " or m.group(0) == "_":
            return "[ _]"
        elif m.group(0) == "(" or m.group(0) == ")" or m.group(0) == "*" or m.group(0) == "+" or m.group(0) == "=" or m.group(0) == "?" or m.group(0) == "!" or m.group(0) == "^" or m.group(0) == "-":
            return "\\" + m.group(0)

    return re.sub(r"[ _()*+=?!^-]", rep, s)
</code></pre>
