Escaping < ? ... ? > Tags in Jython scripts

When developing a Jython script which manipulates strings containing tags similar to those used by ODI such as:

xmlString.append('<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>')

ODI interprets the <? strings as its own private tags and is unable to continue processing.
Is there any way of "escaping" these strings so that no interpretation errors are signaled ?

When manipulating '<?' and' ?>' tags (in cases where XML files are to be created) in Jython scripts from ODI Specific Procedures based on the Jython technology, ODI treats them as its own specific Java tags and, as a result, cannot compile the program.

Troubleshooting either:

• • prefix each ? with the $ character (ie '<$?' and '$?>').
  • use the Unicode or hexadecimal representations (ie '<\u003F' and '\u003F>'; or <\x3F' and '\x3F>').
  • use an ODI Variable.