diff --git a/src/tools/common/regex.py b/src/tools/common/regex.py
index 0dd0f74b..14792026 100644
--- a/src/tools/common/regex.py
+++ b/src/tools/common/regex.py
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ import re
 path_escape = {'%': '%25', '/': '%2F', '\\': '%5c'}
 path_escape_rev = {re.escape(v):k for k, v in path_escape.iteritems()}
 path_escape = {re.escape(k):v for k, v in path_escape.iteritems()}
+# thanks to Martijn Pieters (https://stackoverflow.com/a/14693789)
+RE_ANSI_REMOVE = re.compile(r'\x1b[^m]*m')
 
 
 def reJoin(exps):
@@ -60,3 +62,11 @@ def pathUnescape(string):
     @return (str, unicode): unescaped string
     """
     return reSubDict(path_escape_rev_re, path_escape_rev, string)
+
+def ansiRemove(string):
+    """Remove ANSI escape codes from string
+
+    @param string(basestr): string to filter
+    @return (str, unicode): string without ANSI escape codes
+    """
+    return RE_ANSI_REMOVE.sub('', string)