diff --git a/bin/sh/histedit.c b/bin/sh/histedit.c
--- a/bin/sh/histedit.c
+++ b/bin/sh/histedit.c
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@
 			if (el != NULL) {
 				if (hist)
 					el_set(el, EL_HIST, history, hist);
-				el_set(el, EL_PROMPT, getprompt);
+				el_set(el, EL_PROMPT_ESC, getprompt, '\001');
 				el_set(el, EL_ADDFN, "sh-complete",
 				    "Filename completion",
 				    sh_complete);
diff --git a/bin/sh/parser.c b/bin/sh/parser.c
--- a/bin/sh/parser.c
+++ b/bin/sh/parser.c
@@ -2060,6 +2060,15 @@
 		if (*fmt == '\\')
 			switch (*++fmt) {
 
+				/*
+				 * ESC character.
+				 */
+			case 'e':
+				ps[i++] = '\001';
+				ps[i++] = '\033';
+				ps[i] = '\001';
+				break;
+
 				/*
 				 * Hostname.
 				 *
diff --git a/bin/sh/sh.1 b/bin/sh/sh.1
--- a/bin/sh/sh.1
+++ b/bin/sh/sh.1
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
 .\"	from: @(#)sh.1	8.6 (Berkeley) 5/4/95
 .\" $FreeBSD$
 .\"
-.Dd May 10, 2021
+.Dd December 14, 2022
 .Dt SH 1
 .Os
 .Sh NAME
@@ -1428,6 +1428,8 @@
 may include any of the following formatting sequences,
 which are replaced by the given information:
 .Bl -tag -width indent
+.It Li \ee
+An ASCII ESCAPE character (decimal 27, octal 033, hexadecimal 0x1b).
 .It Li \eH
 This system's fully-qualified hostname (FQDN).
 .It Li \eh