diff -ur readline-5.2/bind.c readline-5.2-hacked/bind.c
--- readline-5.2/bind.c	2006-07-27 15:44:10.000000000 +0200
+++ readline-5.2-hacked/bind.c	2008-06-19 23:23:50.000000000 +0200
@@ -1433,6 +1433,7 @@
   { "print-completions-horizontally", &_rl_print_completions_horizontally, 0 },
   { "show-all-if-ambiguous",	&_rl_complete_show_all,		0 },
   { "show-all-if-unmodified",	&_rl_complete_show_unmodified,	0 },
+  { "dont-escape-ctrl-chars", 	&rl_dont_escape_ctrl_chars,	0 },
 #if defined (VISIBLE_STATS)
   { "visible-stats",		&rl_visible_stats,		0 },
 #endif /* VISIBLE_STATS */
diff -ur readline-5.2/complete.c readline-5.2-hacked/complete.c
--- readline-5.2/complete.c	2006-07-28 17:35:49.000000000 +0200
+++ readline-5.2-hacked/complete.c	2008-06-20 15:36:48.000000000 +0200
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 
 #include <sys/types.h>
 #include <fcntl.h>
+#include <ctype.h>
 #if defined (HAVE_SYS_FILE_H)
 #  include <sys/file.h>
 #endif
@@ -214,6 +215,10 @@
 
 int _rl_page_completions = 1;
 
+/* Non-zero means that ctrl chars are not replaced by '^' when
+   printing the list of possible completions */
+int rl_dont_escape_ctrl_chars = 0;
+
 /* The basic list of characters that signal a break between words for the
    completer routine.  The contents of this variable is what breaks words
    in the shell, i.e. " \t\n\"\\'`@$><=" */
@@ -568,6 +573,7 @@
      const char *string;
 {
   int width, pos;
+  int escape_seq;
 #if defined (HANDLE_MULTIBYTE)
   mbstate_t ps;
   int left, w;
@@ -578,10 +584,21 @@
   memset (&ps, 0, sizeof (mbstate_t));
 #endif
 
-  width = pos = 0;
+  width = pos = escape_seq = 0;
   while (string[pos])
     {
-      if (CTRL_CHAR (*string) || *string == RUBOUT)
+      if (rl_dont_escape_ctrl_chars && string[pos] == '\033')
+        {
+          escape_seq = 1;
+          pos++;
+        }
+      else if (rl_dont_escape_ctrl_chars && escape_seq)
+        {
+          if (isalpha(string[pos]))
+            escape_seq = 0; // escape sequence ended
+          pos++;
+        }
+      else if (CTRL_CHAR (string[pos]) || string[pos] == RUBOUT)
 	{
 	  width += 2;
 	  pos++;
@@ -635,7 +652,7 @@
   s = to_print;
   while (*s)
     {
-      if (CTRL_CHAR (*s))
+      if (!rl_dont_escape_ctrl_chars && CTRL_CHAR (*s))
         {
           putc ('^', rl_outstream);
           putc (UNCTRL (*s), rl_outstream);
@@ -698,7 +715,8 @@
   char *s, c, *new_full_pathname, *dn;
 
   extension_char = 0;
-  printed_len = fnprint (to_print);
+  fnprint (to_print);
+  printed_len = fnwidth (to_print);
 
 #if defined (VISIBLE_STATS)
  if (rl_filename_completion_desired && (rl_visible_stats || _rl_complete_mark_directories))
diff -ur readline-5.2/rlprivate.h readline-5.2-hacked/rlprivate.h
--- readline-5.2/rlprivate.h	2006-07-18 16:36:32.000000000 +0200
+++ readline-5.2-hacked/rlprivate.h	2008-06-19 21:50:19.000000000 +0200
@@ -131,6 +131,7 @@
 
 /* complete.c */
 extern int rl_complete_with_tilde_expansion;
+extern int rl_dont_escape_ctrl_chars;
 #if defined (VISIBLE_STATS)
 extern int rl_visible_stats;
 #endif /* VISIBLE_STATS */