Seems i need to move those functions to tui-printf, as tui-printf takes the 'status-value' as 'full' string including the color codes.
That way, i would only pass the exit code, and not the 'status string', thus reduce the 'expansion'/subtraction issue.
OH HOLY COW...
This was a headache, but worth it
At times it was fun to see how the arguments jumped along the lines... back and forth... dis- and reappearing.
When i wanted to share more code, i got the right train to the solution
Sorry.
(edit: took me like 2 hrs to write the post, aside of fixing code.. this one post was 3.. and now just edited due to the answer in between
)