diff --git a/lib/Data/Printer.pm b/lib/Data/Printer.pm
index cd263e4..6dbc18a 100644
--- a/lib/Data/Printer.pm
+++ b/lib/Data/Printer.pm
@@ -377,45 +377,39 @@ sub _escape_chars {
     $orig_color   = color( $orig_color );
     my $esc_color = color( $p->{color}{escaped} );
 
-    # if we're escaping everything then we don't need to keep swapping
-    # colors in and out, and we need to return right away because
-    # we no longer need to print_escapes
-    if ($p->{escape_chars} eq 'all') {
-        return $esc_color
-               . join('', map { sprintf '\x{%02x}', ord $_ } split //, $str)
-               . $orig_color
-    }
-
-    $str =~ s/\e/$esc_color\\e$orig_color/g if $p->{print_escapes};
+    my %special_escapes = (
+        "\n" => '\n',
+        "\r" => '\r',
+        "\t" => '\t',
+        "\f" => '\f',
+        "\b" => '\b',
+        "\a" => '\a',
+        "\0" => '\0',
+        "\e" => '\e',
+    );
+
+    my $blacklist;
 
-    if ($p->{escape_chars} eq 'nonascii') {
-        $str =~ s{([^\x{00}-\x{7f}]+)}{
-          $esc_color
-          . (join '', map { sprintf '\x{%02x}', ord $_ } split //, $1)
-          . $orig_color
-        }ge;
+    if ($p->{escape_chars} eq 'all') {
+        # escape everything, and systematically
+        $blacklist = "(.+)";
+        %special_escapes = ();
+    } elsif ($p->{escape_chars} eq 'nonascii') {
+        $blacklist = "([^\x{20}-\x{7e}]+)";
     } elsif ($p->{escape_chars} eq 'nonlatin1') {
-        $str =~ s{([^\x{00}-\x{ff}]+)}{
-          $esc_color
-          . (join '', map { sprintf '\x{%02x}', ord $_ } split //, $1) . $orig_color
-        }ge;
+        $blacklist = "([^\x{20}-\x{7e}\x{a0}-\x{ff}]+)";
+    } elsif ($p->{print_escapes}) {
+        $blacklist = "([\0\e\n\r\t\f\b\a]+)";
+    } else {
+        # always escape nulls and the escape character
+        $blacklist = "([\0\e]+)";
     }
 
-    if ($p->{print_escapes}) {
-        my %escaped = (
-            "\n" => '\n',
-            "\r" => '\r',
-            "\t" => '\t',
-            "\f" => '\f',
-            "\b" => '\b',
-            "\a" => '\a',
-        );
-        foreach my $k ( keys %escaped ) {
-            $str =~ s/$k/$esc_color$escaped{$k}$orig_color/g;
-        }
-    }
-    # always escape the null character
-    $str =~ s/\0/$esc_color\\0$orig_color/g;
+    $str =~ s{$blacklist}{
+      $esc_color
+      . (join '', map { $special_escapes{$_} || sprintf '\x{%02x}', ord $_ } split //, $1)
+      . $orig_color
+    }ge;
 
     return $str;
 }
diff --git a/t/30-print_escapes.t b/t/30-print_escapes.t
index 389d9d0..d451643 100644
--- a/t/30-print_escapes.t
+++ b/t/30-print_escapes.t
@@ -60,7 +60,6 @@ foreach my $item (@stuff) {
 
     $mixed->{original}  .= $item->{original};
     $mixed->{unescaped} .= $item->{unescaped};
-    $mixed->{colored}   .= $colored;
 
     is(
         p( $item->{original} ),
@@ -74,6 +73,11 @@ foreach my $item (@stuff) {
     );
 }
 
+$mixed->{colored} = color('bright_red')
+                  . $mixed->{unescaped}
+                  . color('bright_yellow')
+                  ;
+
 is(
     p( $mixed->{original} ),
        color('reset')
diff --git a/t/40-escape_chars.t b/t/40-escape_chars.t
index a4869e8..3ba82bc 100644
--- a/t/40-escape_chars.t
+++ b/t/40-escape_chars.t
@@ -16,11 +16,19 @@ BEGIN {
 };
 
 my $string = "L\x{e9}on likes to build a m\x{f8}\x{f8}se \x{2603} with \x{2744}\x{2746}";
+my $ctl_string = "\n\x{14}\x{7f}\x{9b}"; # "common" control character, C0, DEL, C1
 my %hash   = ( $string => $string );
 
 sub col(@) {
     my $return = color('bright_red');
-    $return .= '\\x{' . shift . '}' while @_;
+    $return .= '\\x{' . shift() . '}' while @_;
+    $return .= color('bright_yellow');
+    return $return;
+}
+
+sub col_sp(@) {
+    my $return = color('bright_red');
+    $return .= '\\' . shift() while @_;
     $return .= color('bright_yellow');
     return $return;
 }
@@ -29,7 +37,7 @@ sub str($) {
     return color('reset')
            . '"'
            . color('bright_yellow')
-           . shift
+           . shift()
            . color('reset')
            . '"';
 }
@@ -58,6 +66,12 @@ is(
     "Testing 'nonascii'"
 );
 
+is(
+    p( $ctl_string ),
+    str( col_sp('n','x{14}','x{7f}','x{9b}') ),
+    "Testing 'nonascii' control characters"
+);
+
 ### nonlatin1 ###
 
 use_ok (
@@ -73,6 +87,12 @@ is(
     "Testing 'nonlatin1'"
 );
 
+is(
+    p( $ctl_string ),
+    str( col_sp('n','x{14}','x{7f}','x{9b}') ),
+    "Testing 'nonlatin1' control characters"
+);
+
 ### all ###
 
 use_ok (