diff --git a/.jules/bolt.md b/.jules/bolt.md
index 83cc604..64677a3 100644
--- a/.jules/bolt.md
+++ b/.jules/bolt.md
@@ -5,3 +5,7 @@
 ## 2024-05-24 - Loop Allocation Hot Paths
 **Learning:** Rendering directory entries with repeated string concatenation and list-based exclusion lookups creates avoidable allocation and lookup cost in large directories.
 **Action:** Use `StringBuilder` for entry rendering and a `Set` for excluded file names.
+
+## 2024-07-03 - Inefficient String Escaping
+**Learning:** Chaining `replace` calls on a string in Kotlin allocates multiple intermediate strings and causes O(N) allocation overhead for a simple escaping process.
+**Action:** Replace multiple `replace` calls with a single-pass `StringBuilder` loop that checks if escaping is needed first, drastically reducing allocation and execution time.
diff --git a/src/main/kotlin/html4tree/main.kt b/src/main/kotlin/html4tree/main.kt
index 2e2809f..5a0a573 100644
--- a/src/main/kotlin/html4tree/main.kt
+++ b/src/main/kotlin/html4tree/main.kt
@@ -23,12 +23,13 @@ fun main(args: Array<String>)  = Html4tree().main(args)
 
 fun go(topDir: String, maxLevel: Int)  {
     require(topDir.isNotBlank())
-    val top_dir = File(topDir).canonicalFile
+    val top_dir = File(topDir)
     require(Files.isDirectory(top_dir.toPath(), LinkOption.NOFOLLOW_LINKS)) { "Top directory must be an existing non-symlink directory" }
+    val canonical_top_dir = top_dir.canonicalFile
 
     val ll = LinkedList()
 
-    ll.push(LinkedListEntry(top_dir,0))
+    ll.push(LinkedListEntry(canonical_top_dir,0))
 
     var lle: LinkedListEntry? = ll.pull()
 
@@ -49,12 +50,30 @@ fun go(topDir: String, maxLevel: Int)  {
 }
 
 fun String.escapeHtml(): String {
-    return this.replace("&", "&amp;")
-               .replace("<", "&lt;")
-               .replace(">", "&gt;")
-               .replace("\"", "&quot;")
-               .replace("'", "&#x27;")
-               .replace("`", "&#x60;")
+    var hasSpecial = false
+    for (i in 0 until length) {
+        val c = this[i]
+        if (c == '&' || c == '<' || c == '>' || c == '"' || c == '\'' || c == '`') {
+            hasSpecial = true
+            break
+        }
+    }
+    if (!hasSpecial) return this
+
+    val sb = StringBuilder(length + 16)
+    for (i in 0 until length) {
+        val c = this[i]
+        when (c) {
+            '&' -> sb.append("&amp;")
+            '<' -> sb.append("&lt;")
+            '>' -> sb.append("&gt;")
+            '"' -> sb.append("&quot;")
+            '\'' -> sb.append("&#x27;")
+            '`' -> sb.append("&#x60;")
+            else -> sb.append(c)
+        }
+    }
+    return sb.toString()
 }
 
 fun String.urlEncodePath(): String {
diff --git a/src/test/kotlin/html4tree/EscapeHtmlTest.kt b/src/test/kotlin/html4tree/EscapeHtmlTest.kt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8ce8925
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/kotlin/html4tree/EscapeHtmlTest.kt
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+package html4tree
+
+import org.junit.Test
+import kotlin.test.assertEquals
+
+class EscapeHtmlTest {
+    @Test
+    fun testEscapeHtmlNoSpecial() {
+        val s = "no special chars"
+        assertEquals("no special chars", s.escapeHtml())
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun testEscapeHtmlAllSpecial() {
+        val s = "&<>\"'`"
+        assertEquals("&amp;&lt;&gt;&quot;&#x27;&#x60;", s.escapeHtml())
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun testEscapeHtmlMixed() {
+        val s = "a&b<c>d\"e'f`g"
+        assertEquals("a&amp;b&lt;c&gt;d&quot;e&#x27;f&#x60;g", s.escapeHtml())
+    }
+}