diff --git a/minindn/util.py b/minindn/util.py
index 82fcdac..b7d060c 100644
--- a/minindn/util.py
+++ b/minindn/util.py
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@
 import sys
 from os.path import isfile
 from subprocess import call
+from six.moves.urllib.parse import quote
+
 from mininet.cli import CLI
 from mn_wifi.cli import CLI as CLI_wifi
 
@@ -31,6 +33,17 @@
 scpbase = ['scp', '-i', '/home/mininet/.ssh/id_rsa']
 devnull = open('/dev/null', 'w')
 
+def getSafeName(namePrefix):
+    """
+    Check if the prefix/string is safe to use with ndn commands or not.
+        return safe prefix.
+    :param namePrefix: name of the prefix
+    """
+    # remove redundant "/"es, multiple "/"es are an invalid representation for empty name component
+    # https://named-data.net/doc/NDN-packet-spec/current/changelog.html#version-0-3
+    namePrefix= "/" + ("/".join(filter(None, namePrefix.split("/"))))
+    return quote(namePrefix, safe='/')
+
 def ssh(login, cmd):
     rcmd = sshbase + [login, cmd]
     call(rcmd, stdout=devnull, stderr=devnull)
@@ -80,4 +93,4 @@
 class MiniNDNWifiCLI(CLI_wifi):
     prompt = 'mini-ndn-wifi> '
     def __init__(self, mininet, stdin=sys.stdin, script=None):
-        CLI_wifi.__init__(self, mininet, stdin, script)
\ No newline at end of file
+        CLI_wifi.__init__(self, mininet, stdin, script)