diff --git a/src/core/utils.js b/src/core/utils.js
index f762a6a..8703a26 100644
--- a/src/core/utils.js
+++ b/src/core/utils.js
@@ -298,6 +298,15 @@ export function setBrightness(hex, dark: boolean = false) {
   return `#${r.toString(16)}${g.toString(16)}${b.toString(16)}`;
 }
 
+/*
+ * escape string for use in regexp
+ * @param string input string
+ * @return escaped string
+ */
+function escapeRegExp(string) {
+  return string.replace(/[.*+?^${}()|[\]\\]/g, '\\$&'); // $& means the whole matched string
+}
+
 /*
  * create RegExp to search for ping in chat messages
  * @param name name
@@ -305,5 +314,5 @@ export function setBrightness(hex, dark: boolean = false) {
  */
 export function createNameRegExp(name: string) {
   if (!name) return null;
-  return new RegExp(`(^|\\s+)(@${name})(\\s+|$)`, 'g');
+  return new RegExp(`(^|\\s+)(@${escapeRegExp(name)})(\\s+|$)`, 'g');
 }
diff --git a/src/utils/cellsEquals.js b/src/utils/cellsEquals.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 0db28de..0000000
--- a/src/utils/cellsEquals.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,19 +0,0 @@
-/**
- * @flow
- */
-
-
-/**
- * http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3115982/how-to-check-if-two-arrays-are-equal-with-javascript
- * @param a
- * @param b
- * @returns {boolean}
- */
-function cellsEquals(a: Cell, b: Cell): boolean {
-  if (a === b) return true;
-  if (a === null || b === null) return false;
-
-  return (a[0] === b[0]) && (a[1] === b[1]);
-}
-
-export default cellsEquals;