diff --git a/py/obj.c b/py/obj.c
index f90c67b0c..42f86cf17 100644
--- a/py/obj.c
+++ b/py/obj.c
@@ -44,6 +44,8 @@ void printf_wrapper(void *env, const char *fmt, ...) {
 void mp_obj_print_helper(void (*print)(void *env, const char *fmt, ...), void *env, mp_obj_t o_in, mp_print_kind_t kind) {
     if (MP_OBJ_IS_SMALL_INT(o_in)) {
         print(env, "%d", (int)MP_OBJ_SMALL_INT_VALUE(o_in));
+    } else if (MP_OBJ_IS_QSTR(o_in)) {
+        mp_obj_str_print_qstr(print, env, MP_OBJ_QSTR_VALUE(o_in), kind);
     } else {
         mp_obj_base_t *o = o_in;
         if (o->type->print != NULL) {
diff --git a/py/obj.h b/py/obj.h
index 11ec4afe8..faf023147 100644
--- a/py/obj.h
+++ b/py/obj.h
@@ -280,6 +280,7 @@ void mp_obj_exception_get_traceback(mp_obj_t self_in, machine_uint_t *n, machine
 // str
 extern const mp_obj_type_t str_type;
 qstr mp_obj_str_get(mp_obj_t self_in);
+void mp_obj_str_print_qstr(void (*print)(void *env, const char *fmt, ...), void *env, qstr q, mp_print_kind_t kind);
 
 #if MICROPY_ENABLE_FLOAT
 // float
diff --git a/py/objstr.c b/py/objstr.c
index c232b1c92..5e87097a8 100644
--- a/py/objstr.c
+++ b/py/objstr.c
@@ -22,16 +22,20 @@ static mp_obj_t mp_obj_new_str_iterator(mp_obj_str_t *str, int cur);
 /******************************************************************************/
 /* str                                                                        */
 
-void str_print(void (*print)(void *env, const char *fmt, ...), void *env, mp_obj_t self_in, mp_print_kind_t kind) {
-    mp_obj_str_t *self = self_in;
+void mp_obj_str_print_qstr(void (*print)(void *env, const char *fmt, ...), void *env, qstr q, mp_print_kind_t kind) {
     if (kind == PRINT_STR) {
-        print(env, "%s", qstr_str(self->qstr));
+        print(env, "%s", qstr_str(q));
     } else {
         // TODO need to escape chars etc
-        print(env, "'%s'", qstr_str(self->qstr));
+        print(env, "'%s'", qstr_str(q));
     }
 }
 
+void str_print(void (*print)(void *env, const char *fmt, ...), void *env, mp_obj_t self_in, mp_print_kind_t kind) {
+    mp_obj_str_t *self = self_in;
+    mp_obj_str_print_qstr(print, env, self->qstr, kind);
+}
+
 mp_obj_t str_binary_op(int op, mp_obj_t lhs_in, mp_obj_t rhs_in) {
     mp_obj_str_t *lhs = lhs_in;
     const char *lhs_str = qstr_str(lhs->qstr);