To pass to the TeX command a file name containing dangerous characters

texfile.lua

local ptn = '[\\{}#^~%%]' -- dangerous characters
local fa, c = arg[#arg]:gsub(ptn, '~\\%1')
if c > 0 then
  arg[#arg] = [[\bgroup\escapechar-1\let~\string\xdef\x{]]..
      fa..[[}\egroup\input\x\relax]]
end
arg[0] = nil
os.exec(arg)

usage.md

Example:

texlua texfile.lua latex "%.tex"

texlua texfile.lua pdflatex -halt-on-error "ABC~"