diff --git a/tests/t1340-listescapes.sh b/tests/t1340-listescapes.sh
index b4be9db..e0682c3 100755
--- a/tests/t1340-listescapes.sh
+++ b/tests/t1340-listescapes.sh
@@ -7,6 +7,10 @@ This test checks listing of tasks that have embedded escape sequences in them.
 '
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
+# Note: The quadrupled escaped backslashes (even 8-fold for the escape color
+# code) in the expected output are necessary due to (superfluous?!)
+# interpretation of the expected output in the test library itself.
+
 #
 # check aborted list output on \c escape sequence
 #
@@ -30,4 +34,36 @@ TODO: 3 of 3 tasks shown
 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/todo.sh b/todo.sh
index c47b9a1..99320c9 100755
--- a/todo.sh
+++ b/todo.sh
@@ -636,17 +636,22 @@ _list() {
             s/^ /0/;
           ''' \
         | eval ${TODOTXT_SORT_COMMAND}                                        \
-        | awk '''{
-            pos = match($0, /\([A-Z]\)/)
-            if (match($0, /^[0-9]+ x /)) {
-                str = ENVIRON["COLOR_DONE"] $0 ENVIRON["DEFAULT"]
-                gsub(/\\+033/, "\033", str); print str
-            } else if (pos > 0) {
-                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