diff --git a/base/REPL.jl b/base/REPL.jl
index 0200638a5023f..ae804cd32d0f1 100644
--- a/base/REPL.jl
+++ b/base/REPL.jl
@@ -111,12 +111,13 @@ function ip_matches_func(ip, func::Symbol)
 end
 
 function display_error(io::IO, er, bt)
+    print_with_color(:red, io, "ERROR: ")
     # remove REPL-related frames from interactive printing
     eval_ind = findlast(addr->Base.REPL.ip_matches_func(addr, :eval), bt)
     if eval_ind != 0
         bt = bt[1:eval_ind-1]
     end
-    showerror(IOContext(io, :REPLError => true), er, bt)
+    showerror(IOContext(io, :hascolor => true), er, bt)
 end
 
 immutable REPLDisplay{R<:AbstractREPL} <: Display
diff --git a/base/client.jl b/base/client.jl
index a973a6ce6dbef..2507e88a16ab7 100644
--- a/base/client.jl
+++ b/base/client.jl
@@ -63,8 +63,8 @@ warn_color()   = repl_color("JULIA_WARN_COLOR", default_color_warn)
 info_color()   = repl_color("JULIA_INFO_COLOR", default_color_info)
 input_color()  = text_colors[repl_color("JULIA_INPUT_COLOR", default_color_input)]
 answer_color() = text_colors[repl_color("JULIA_ANSWER_COLOR", default_color_answer)]
-bt_linfo_color()   = repl_color("JULIA_BT_LINFO_COLOR", :bold)
-bt_funcdef_color() = repl_color("JULIA_BT_FUNCTION_COLOR", :bold)
+stackframe_linfo_color() =    repl_color("JULIA_STACKFRAME_LINFO_COLOR", :bold)
+stackframe_function_color() = repl_color("JULIA_STACKFRAME_FUNCTION_COLOR", :bold)
 
 function repl_cmd(cmd, out)
     shell = shell_split(get(ENV,"JULIA_SHELL",get(ENV,"SHELL","/bin/sh")))
diff --git a/base/replutil.jl b/base/replutil.jl
index 40f839dda174e..45bce24aed213 100644
--- a/base/replutil.jl
+++ b/base/replutil.jl
@@ -193,25 +193,13 @@ function showerror(io::IO, ex::TypeError)
 end
 
 function showerror(io::IO, ex, bt; backtrace=true)
-   try
-        Base.with_output_color(:red, io) do io
+    try
+        with_output_color(get(io, :hascolor, false) ? :red : :nothing, io) do io
             showerror(io, ex)
         end
     finally
         if backtrace
-            if get(io, :REPLError, false)
-                buffer_bt = IOBuffer()
-                show_backtrace(IOContext(buffer_bt, io), bt)
-                bt_str = takebuf_string(buffer_bt)
-                if !isempty(bt_str)
-                    print(io, "\nStacktrace:")
-                    print(io, bt_str)
-                end
-            else
-                Base.with_output_color(:red, io) do io
-                    show_backtrace(io, bt)
-                end
-            end
+            show_backtrace(io, bt)
         end
     end
 end
@@ -575,28 +563,22 @@ function show_method_candidates(io::IO, ex::MethodError, kwargs::Vector=Any[])
     end
 end
 
-function show_trace_entry(io, frame, n)
-    !get(io, :REPLError, false) && println(io)
-    show(io, frame, full_path=true)
+function show_trace_entry(io, frame, n; prefix = " in ")
+    print(io, "\n")
+    show(io, frame, full_path=true; prefix = prefix)
     n > 1 && print(io, " (repeats ", n, " times)")
 end
 
 function show_backtrace(io::IO, t::Vector)
-    if get(io, :REPLError, false)
-        n_frames = 0
-        stack_counter = 0
-        process_backtrace((a,b) -> n_frames += 1, t)
-        process_entry = (last_frame, n) -> begin
-            println(io)
-            stack_counter += 1
-            n_spaces_align = ndigits(n_frames) - ndigits(stack_counter) + 1
-            print(io, " "^n_spaces_align, "[", stack_counter, "]", )
-            show_trace_entry(io, last_frame, n)
-        end
-    else
-        process_entry = (last_frame, n) -> show_trace_entry(io, last_frame, n)
+    n_frames = 0
+    frame_counter = 0
+    process_backtrace((a,b) -> n_frames += 1, t)
+    n_frames != 0 && print(io, "\n\nStacktrace:")
+    process_entry = (last_frame, n) -> begin
+        frame_counter += 1
+        n_spaces_align = ndigits(n_frames) - ndigits(frame_counter) + 1
+        show_trace_entry(io, last_frame, n, prefix = string(" "^n_spaces_align, "[", frame_counter, "] "))
     end
-
     process_backtrace(process_entry, t)
 end
 
diff --git a/base/show.jl b/base/show.jl
index 3c056a3621477..106cc3c483a21 100644
--- a/base/show.jl
+++ b/base/show.jl
@@ -1028,10 +1028,9 @@ end
 
 function show_lambda_types(io::IO, li::Core.MethodInstance)
     # print a method signature tuple for a lambda definition
-    isreplerror = get(io, :REPLError, false)
     local sig
     returned_from_do = false
-    Base.with_output_color(isreplerror ? Base.bt_funcdef_color() : :nothing, io) do io
+    Base.with_output_color(get(io, :hascolor, false) ? stackframe_function_color() : :nothing, io) do io
         if li.specTypes === Tuple
             print(io, li.def.name, "(...)")
             returned_from_do = true
@@ -1052,7 +1051,7 @@ function show_lambda_types(io::IO, li::Core.MethodInstance)
     end
     returned_from_do && return
     first = true
-    print_style = isreplerror ? :bold : :nothing
+    print_style = get(io, :hascolor, false) ? :bold : :nothing
     print_with_color(print_style, io, "(")
     for i = 2:length(sig)  # fixme (iter): `eachindex` with offset?
         first || print(io, ", ")
diff --git a/base/stacktraces.jl b/base/stacktraces.jl
index 82c1f514a40cb..f1b4c7f275fb7 100644
--- a/base/stacktraces.jl
+++ b/base/stacktraces.jl
@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@ function show_spec_linfo(io::IO, frame::StackFrame)
         if frame.func === empty_sym
             @printf(io, "ip:%#x", frame.pointer)
         else
-            print_with_color(get(io, :REPLError, false) ? Base.bt_funcdef_color() : :nothing, io, string(frame.func))
+            print_with_color(get(io, :hascolor, false) ? Base.stackframe_function_color() : :nothing, io, string(frame.func))
         end
     else
         linfo = get(frame.linfo)
@@ -200,14 +200,14 @@ function show_spec_linfo(io::IO, frame::StackFrame)
     end
 end
 
-function show(io::IO, frame::StackFrame; full_path::Bool=false)
-    isreplerror = get(io, :REPLError, false)
-    print(io, isreplerror ? " ─ " : " in ")
+function show(io::IO, frame::StackFrame; full_path::Bool=false,
+              prefix = " in ")
+    print(io, prefix)
     show_spec_linfo(io, frame)
     if frame.file !== empty_sym
         file_info = full_path ? string(frame.file) : basename(string(frame.file))
         print(io, " at ")
-        Base.with_output_color(isreplerror ? Base.bt_linfo_color() : :nothing, io) do io
+        Base.with_output_color(get(io, :hascolor, false) ? Base.stackframe_linfo_color() : :nothing, io) do io
             print(io, file_info, ":")
             if frame.line >= 0
                 print(io, frame.line)
diff --git a/doc/manual/interacting-with-julia.rst b/doc/manual/interacting-with-julia.rst
index 16e35b614ddcd..1f5658eb319ea 100644
--- a/doc/manual/interacting-with-julia.rst
+++ b/doc/manual/interacting-with-julia.rst
@@ -311,5 +311,5 @@ informational messages in cyan you can add the following to your ``juliarc.jl``
 
 The backtrace that is printed in the REPL when an error is thrown can also be customized. The color of the function name and the file and line info for each stack frame can be changed with environment variables as::
 
-    ENV["JULIA_BT_FUNCTION_COLOR"] = :green # Color of function names
-    ENV["JULIA_BT_LINFO_COLOR"] = :yellow # Color of file name and line number
+    ENV["JULIA_STACKFRAME_FUNCTION_COLOR"] = :green # Color of function names
+    ENV["JULIA_STACKFRAME_LINFO_COLOR"] = :yellow # Color of file name and line number