diff --git a/src/hotspot/share/classfile/javaClasses.cpp b/src/hotspot/share/classfile/javaClasses.cpp
index c1cece08069..d38c32b234e 100644
--- a/src/hotspot/share/classfile/javaClasses.cpp
+++ b/src/hotspot/share/classfile/javaClasses.cpp
@@ -765,8 +765,13 @@ void java_lang_String::print(oop java_string, outputStream* st) {
 
   st->print("\"");
   for (int index = 0; index < length; index++) {
-    st->print("%c", (!is_latin1) ?  value->char_at(index) :
-                           ((jchar) value->byte_at(index)) & 0xff );
+    jchar c = (!is_latin1) ?  value->char_at(index) :
+                             ((jchar) value->byte_at(index)) & 0xff;
+    if (c < ' ') {
+      st->print("\\x%02X", c); // print control characters e.g. \x0A
+    } else {
+      st->print("%c", c);
+    }
   }
   st->print("\"");
 }