diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 5ef5431..3219f85 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ test-pre-clean:
 aggregate-results: $(TESTS)
 
 $(TESTS): test-pre-clean
-	-cd tests && sh $(notdir $@) $(TEST_OPTIONS)
+	-cd tests && ./$(notdir $@) $(TEST_OPTIONS)
 
 test: aggregate-results
 	tests/aggregate-results.sh tests/test-results/t*-*
diff --git a/tests/t1340-listescapes.sh b/tests/t1340-listescapes.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..075b9ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/t1340-listescapes.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+
+test_description='list with escape sequences
+
+This test checks listing of tasks that have embedded escape sequences in them.
+'
+. ./test-lib.sh
+
+#
+# check aborted list output on \c escape sequence
+#
+cat > todo.txt <<'EOF'
+first todo
+second todo run C:\WINDOWS\sysnative\cscript.exe
+third todo
+EOF
+
+test_todo_session 'aborted list output on backslash-c' <<'EOF'
+>>> todo.sh ls
+1 first todo
+2 second todo run C:\WINDOWS\sysnative\cscript.exe
+3 third todo
+--
+TODO: 3 of 3 tasks shown
+
+>>> todo.sh ls 2
+2 second todo run C:\WINDOWS\sysnative\cscript.exe
+--
+TODO: 1 of 3 tasks shown
+EOF
+
+#
+# check various escape sequences
+#
+cat > todo.txt <<'EOF'
+first todo with \\, \a and \t
+second todo with \r\n line break
+third todo with \x42\x55\x47 and \033[0;31m color codes \033[0;30m
+EOF
+
+test_todo_session 'various escape sequences' <<'EOF'
+>>> todo.sh ls
+1 first todo with \\, \a and \t
+2 second todo with \r\n line break
+3 third todo with \x42\x55\x47 and \033[0;31m color codes \033[0;30m
+--
+TODO: 3 of 3 tasks shown
+EOF
+
+#
+# check embedding of actual color sequence
+#
+cat > todo.txt <<'EOF'
+A task with  actual color 
+EOF
+
+test_todo_session 'embedding of actual color sequence' <<'EOF'
+>>> todo.sh ls
+1 A task with  actual color 
+--
+TODO: 1 of 1 tasks shown
+EOF
+
+test_done
diff --git a/tests/t8000-actions.sh b/tests/t8000-actions.sh
index 3d92248..03a1fbe 100755
--- a/tests/t8000-actions.sh
+++ b/tests/t8000-actions.sh
@@ -8,10 +8,27 @@ This test covers the contract between todo.sh and custom actions.
 
 unset TODO_ACTIONS_DIR
 mkdir .todo.actions.d
-cat > .todo.actions.d/foo << EOF
-echo "TODO: foo"
+make_action()
+{
+	cat > ".todo.actions.d/$1" <<- EOF
+	#!/bin/bash
+	echo "custom action $1"
+EOF
+chmod +x ".todo.actions.d/$1"
+}
+
+make_action "foo"
+test_todo_session 'executable action' <<EOF
+>>> todo.sh foo
+custom action foo
 EOF
 
+chmod -x .todo.actions.d/foo
+# On Cygwin, clearing the executable flag may have no effect, as the Windows ACL
+# may still grant execution rights. In this case, we skip the test.
+if [ -x .todo.actions.d/foo ]; then
+    SKIP_TESTS="${SKIP_TESTS}${SKIP_TESTS+ }t8000.2"
+fi
 test_todo_session 'nonexecutable action' <<EOF
 >>> todo.sh foo
 Usage: todo.sh [-fhpantvV] [-d todo_config] action [task_number] [task_description]
@@ -19,33 +36,21 @@ Try 'todo.sh -h' for more information.
 === 1
 EOF
 
-chmod +x .todo.actions.d/foo
-test_todo_session 'executable action' <<EOF
->>> todo.sh foo
-TODO: foo
-EOF
-
-cat > .todo.actions.d/ls << EOF
-echo "TODO: my ls"
-EOF
-chmod +x .todo.actions.d/ls
+make_action "ls"
 test_todo_session 'overriding built-in action' <<EOF
 >>> todo.sh ls
-TODO: my ls
+custom action ls
 
 >>> todo.sh command ls
 --
 TODO: 0 of 0 tasks shown
 EOF
 
-cat > .todo.actions.d/bad << EOF
-echo "TODO: bad"
-exit 42
-EOF
-chmod +x .todo.actions.d/bad
+make_action "bad"
+echo "exit 42" >> .todo.actions.d/bad
 test_todo_session 'failing action' <<EOF
 >>> todo.sh bad
-TODO: bad
+custom action bad
 === 42
 EOF
 
diff --git a/tests/test-lib.sh b/tests/test-lib.sh
index efe8960..29f3246 100644
--- a/tests/test-lib.sh
+++ b/tests/test-lib.sh
@@ -12,8 +12,10 @@ done,*)
 *' --tee '*|*' --va'*)
 	mkdir -p test-results
 	BASE=test-results/$(basename "$0" .sh)
-	(TEST_TEE_STARTED=done ${SHELL-sh} "$0" "$@" 2>&1;
-	 echo $? > $BASE.exit) | tee $BASE.out
+	(
+	    TEST_TEE_STARTED=done ${SHELL-sh} "$0" "$@" 2>&1;
+	    echo $? > $BASE.exit
+	) | tee $BASE.out
 	test "$(cat $BASE.exit)" = 0
 	exit
 	;;
@@ -395,7 +397,7 @@ test_done () {
 	0)
 		say_color pass "passed all $msg"
 
-                # Clean up this test.
+		# Clean up this test.
 		test -d "$remove_trash" &&
 		cd "$(dirname "$remove_trash")" &&
 		rm -rf "$(basename "$remove_trash")"
@@ -434,8 +436,8 @@ test_init_todo () {
 	root="$1"
 	mkdir -p "$root"
 	cd "$root" || error "Cannot setup todo dir in $root"
-        # Initialize the configuration file. Carefully quoted.
-        sed -e 's|TODO_DIR=.*$|TODO_DIR="'"$TEST_DIRECTORY/$test"'"|' $TEST_DIRECTORY/../todo.cfg > todo.cfg
+	# Initialize the configuration file. Carefully quoted.
+	sed -e 's|TODO_DIR=.*$|TODO_DIR="'"$TEST_DIRECTORY/$test"'"|' $TEST_DIRECTORY/../todo.cfg > todo.cfg
 
 	# Install latest todo.sh
 	mkdir bin
@@ -527,7 +529,7 @@ test_todo_session () {
     cmd=""
     status=0
     > expect
-    while read line
+    while read -r line
     do
 	case $line in
 	">>> "*)
@@ -552,7 +554,7 @@ test_todo_session () {
 	    fi
 	    ;;
 	*)
-	    echo $line >> expect
+	    echo "$line" >> expect
 	    ;;
 	esac
     done
diff --git a/todo.sh b/todo.sh
index 315987a..e04ed37 100755
--- a/todo.sh
+++ b/todo.sh
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ help()
         echo ""
         for action in "$TODO_ACTIONS_DIR"/*
         do
-            if [ -x "$action" ]
+            if [ -f "$action" -a -x "$action" ]
             then
                 "$action" usage
             fi
@@ -550,7 +550,7 @@ _addto() {
     if [ $TODOTXT_VERBOSE -gt 0 ]; then
         TASKNUM=$(sed -n '$ =' "$file")
         BASE=$(basename "$file")
-        PREFIX=$(echo ${BASE%%.[^.]*} | tr [a-z] [A-Z])
+        PREFIX=$(echo ${BASE%%.[^.]*} | tr 'a-z' 'A-Z')
         echo "$TASKNUM $input"
         echo "${PREFIX}: $TASKNUM added."
     fi
@@ -622,12 +622,12 @@ _list() {
         | grep -v "^[ 0-9]\+ *$"
     )
     if [ "${filter_command}" ]; then
-        filtered_items=$(echo -ne "$items" | eval ${filter_command})
+        filtered_items=$(echo -n "$items" | eval ${filter_command})
     else
         filtered_items=$items
     fi
     filtered_items=$(
-        echo -ne "$filtered_items"                              \
+        echo -n "$filtered_items"                              \
         | sed '''
             s/^     /00000/;
             s/^    /0000/;
@@ -636,17 +636,22 @@ _list() {
             s/^ /0/;
           ''' \
         | eval ${TODOTXT_SORT_COMMAND}                                        \
-        | sed '''
-            /^[0-9]\{'$PADDING'\} x /s|^.*|'$COLOR_DONE'&'$DEFAULT'|
-          ''' \
-        | awk '''{
-            pos = match($0, /\([A-Z]\)/)
-            if( pos > 0 && match($0, /^[0-9]+ x /) != 1 ) {
-                clr=ENVIRON["PRI_" substr($0, pos+1, 1)]
-                str = ( clr ? clr : ENVIRON["PRI_X"] ) $0 ENVIRON["DEFAULT"]
-                gsub( /\\+033/, "\033", str) ; print str
-            } else { print }
-          }'''  \
+        | awk '''
+            function highlight(colorVar,      color) {
+                color = ENVIRON[colorVar]
+                gsub(/\\+033/, "\033", color)
+                return color
+            }
+            {
+                pos = match($0, /\([A-Z]\)/)
+                if (match($0, /^[0-9]+ x /)) {
+                    print highlight("COLOR_DONE") $0 highlight("DEFAULT")
+                } else if (pos > 0) {
+                    clr = highlight("PRI_" substr($0, pos+1, 1))
+                    print ( clr ? clr : highlight("PRI_X") ) $0 highlight("DEFAULT")
+                } else { print }
+            }
+          '''  \
         | sed '''
             s/'${HIDE_PRIORITY_SUBSTITUTION:-^}'//g
             s/'${HIDE_PROJECTS_SUBSTITUTION:-^}'//g
@@ -654,13 +659,13 @@ _list() {
           '''                                                   \
         | eval ${TODOTXT_FINAL_FILTER}                          \
     )
-    echo -ne "$filtered_items${filtered_items:+\n}"
+    [ "$filtered_items" ] && echo "$filtered_items"
 
     if [ $TODOTXT_VERBOSE -gt 0 ]; then
         BASE=$(basename "$FILE")
-        PREFIX=$(echo ${BASE%%.[^.]*} | tr [a-z] [A-Z])
-        NUMTASKS=$( echo -ne "$filtered_items" | sed -n '$ =' )
-        TOTALTASKS=$( echo -ne "$items" | sed -n '$ =' )
+        PREFIX=$(echo ${BASE%%.[^.]*} | tr 'a-z' 'A-Z')
+        NUMTASKS=$( echo -n "$filtered_items" | sed -n '$ =' )
+        TOTALTASKS=$( echo -n "$items" | sed -n '$ =' )
 
         echo "--"
         echo "${PREFIX}: ${NUMTASKS:-0} of ${TOTALTASKS:-0} tasks shown"
@@ -877,7 +882,7 @@ case $action in
             now=`date '+%Y-%m-%d'`
             # remove priority once item is done
             sed -i.bak $item"s/^(.) //" "$TODO_FILE"
-            sed -i.bak $item"s|^|&x $now |" "$TODO_FILE"
+            sed -i.bak $item"s|^|x $now |" "$TODO_FILE"
             if [ $TODOTXT_VERBOSE -gt 0 ]; then
                 newtodo=$(sed "$item!d" "$TODO_FILE")
                 echo "$item $newtodo"