import string


def _sanitize_module_name(module_name):
    """Sanitize the given module name, by replacing dashes and points
    with underscores and prefixing it with a letter if it doesn't start
    with one
    """
    module_name = module_name.replace('-', '_').replace('.', '_')
    if module_name[0] not in string.ascii_letters:
        module_name = "a" + module_name
    return module_name