erickn@cosmora01d:/home/erickn/String-Escape-2002.001/blib/lib> cat x
use lib '.';
use String::Escape qw(unprintable);

$var = 'this\tis\ta\011string\x09with some text\r\n';
print unprintable($var);

$var = 'this\\tis\\ta\\011string\\x09with some text\\r\\n';
print unprintable($var);

erickn@cosmora01d:/home/erickn/String-Escape-2002.001/blib/lib> perl x
this    is      a
1string\x09with some text
this    is      a
1string\x09with some text