ANSI with Linux

[Vercuski]

I have seen it done before, using ANSI color codes directly in the linux prompt (ex. by typing <esc>[0;30m hello ... I would get hello in a certain color) ... I can't seem to get it to work with my redhat 5.1 linux server. I would like to use ANSI colors in MANY of my applications. any help would be VERY much appreciated

Thank you
SCott Vercuski