diff --git a/tools/gst-stats.c b/tools/gst-stats.c
index 90241ac24b..065f8ca89c 100644
--- a/tools/gst-stats.c
+++ b/tools/gst-stats.c
@@ -649,15 +649,15 @@ init (void)
       /* 1: ts */
       "^([0-9:.]+) +"
       /* 2: pid */
-      "\\\e\\\[[0-9;]+m *([0-9]+)\\\e\\\[00m +"
+      "\\\x1b\\[[0-9;]+m *([0-9]+)\\\x1b\\[00m +"
       /* 3: thread */
       "(0x[0-9a-fA-F]+) +"
       /* 4: level */
-      "(?:\\\e\\\[[0-9;]+m)?([A-Z]+) +\\\e\\\[00m +"
+      "(?:\\\x1b\\[[0-9;]+m)?([A-Z]+) +\\\x1b\\[00m +"
       /* 5: category */
-      "\\\e\\\[[0-9;]+m +([a-zA-Z_-]+) +"
+      "\\\x1b\\[[0-9;]+m +([a-zA-Z_-]+) +"
       /* 6: file:line:func: */
-      "([^:]*:[0-9]+:[^:]*:)(?:\\\e\\\[00m)? +"
+      "([^:]*:[0-9]+:[^:]*:)(?:\\\x1b\\[00m)? +"
       /* 7: (obj)? log-text */
       "(.*)$", 0, 0, NULL);
   if (!raw_log) {