ls -b in android shell If im not mistaking, using ls -b should output escape characters with some sort of representation, but it seems like this option isn't available. Is there an alternative, or is it impossible to have a filename with escape characters on android?
Android has a very limited implementation of Linux shell functions.  BusyBox utility expands on the selection somewhat, although it's still not a full Linux set.  It can be installed on most rooted Android devices.

Specifically for ls, only the following options are available via BusyBox:

busybox: invalid option -- b
BusyBox v1.22.1 bionic (2014-05-29 17:30 +0200) multi-call binary.

Usage: ls [-1AaCxdLHRFplinsehrSXvctukKZ] [-w WIDTH] [FILE]...

List directory contents

        -1      One column output
        -a      Include entries which start with .
        -A      Like -a, but exclude . and ..
        -C      List by columns
        -x      List by lines
        -d      List directory entries instead of contents
        -L      Follow symlinks
        -H      Follow symlinks on command line
        -R      Recurse
        -p      Append / to dir entries
        -F      Append indicator (one of */=@|) to entries
        -l      Long listing format
        -i      List inode numbers
        -n      List numeric UIDs and GIDs instead of names
        -s      List allocated blocks
        -e      List full date and time
        -h      List sizes in human readable format (1K 243M 2G)
        -r      Sort in reverse order
        -S      Sort by size
        -X      Sort by extension
        -v      Sort by version
        -c      With -l: sort by ctime
        -t      With -l: sort by mtime
        -u      With -l: sort by atime
        -k      List security context
        -K      List security context in long format
        -Z      List security context and permission
        -w N    Assume the terminal is N columns wide
        --color[={always,never,auto}]   Control coloring


The characters allowed in file names on Android are no different from those allowed in other Linux-based systems. As always, it depends on the filesystem.