diff --git a/src/commands/default/player.py b/src/commands/default/player.py
index 5dd463e95a..67e9ea3951 100644
--- a/src/commands/default/player.py
+++ b/src/commands/default/player.py
@@ -597,15 +597,15 @@ class CmdColorTest(MuxPlayerCommand):
                         # foreground table
                         table[ir].append("{%i%i%i%s{n" % (ir, ig, ib, "{{%i%i%i" % (ir, ig, ib)))
                         # background table
-                        table[6+ir].append("{-%i%i%i{%i%i%i%s{n" % (ir, ig, ib,
+                        table[6+ir].append("{[%i%i%i{%i%i%i%s{n" % (ir, ig, ib,
                                                             5 - ir, 5 - ig, 5 - ib,
-                                                        "{{-%i%i%i" % (ir, ig, ib)))
+                                                        "{{[%i%i%i" % (ir, ig, ib)))
             table = self.table_format(table)
             string = "Xterm256 colors (if not all hues show, your client might not report that it can handle xterm256):"
             for row in table:
                 string += "\n" + "".join(row)
             self.msg(string)
-            self.msg("(e.g. %%c123 and %%cb123 also work)")
+            self.msg("(e.g. %%123 and %%[123 also work)")
         else:
             # malformed input
             self.msg("Usage: @color ansi|xterm256")
diff --git a/src/utils/ansi.py b/src/utils/ansi.py
index c41a7d1059..ee55fbb377 100644
--- a/src/utils/ansi.py
+++ b/src/utils/ansi.py
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ class ANSIParser(object):
             return ""
         rgbtag = rgbmatch.groups()[0]
 
-        background = rgbtag[0] == '-'
+        background = rgbtag[0] == '['
         if background:
             red, green, blue = int(rgbtag[1]), int(rgbtag[2]), int(rgbtag[3])
         else:
@@ -254,9 +254,9 @@ class ANSIParser(object):
 
     xterm256_map = [
         (r'%([0-5]{3})', parse_rgb),  # %123 - foreground colour
-        (r'%(-[0-5]{3})', parse_rgb),  # %-123 - background colour
+        (r'%(\[[0-5]{3})', parse_rgb),  # %-123 - background colour
         (r'{([0-5]{3})', parse_rgb),   # {123 - foreground colour
-        (r'{(-[0-5]{3})', parse_rgb)   # {-123 - background colour
+        (r'{(\[[0-5]{3})', parse_rgb)   # {-123 - background colour
         ]
 
     # obs - order matters here, we want to do the xterms first since