diff --git a/lib/system/repr_v2.nim b/lib/system/repr_v2.nim
index fcc187a42c4cf..d456f4454f893 100644
--- a/lib/system/repr_v2.nim
+++ b/lib/system/repr_v2.nim
@@ -29,21 +29,35 @@ proc repr*(x: bool): string {.magic: "BoolToStr", noSideEffect.}
 
 proc repr*(x: char): string {.noSideEffect.} =
   ## repr for a character argument. Returns `x`
-  ## converted to a string.
+  ## converted to an escaped string.
   ##
   ## .. code-block:: Nim
   ##   assert repr('c') == "'c'"
-  '\'' & $x & '\''
-
-proc repr*(x: cstring): string {.noSideEffect.} =
-  ## repr for a CString argument. Returns `x`
-  ## converted to a quoted string.
-  '"' & $x & '"'
+  result.add '\''
+  # Elides string creations if not needed
+  if x in {'\\', '\0'..'\31', '\127'..'\255'}:
+    result.add '\\'
+  if x in {'\0'..'\31', '\127'..'\255'}:
+    result.add $x.uint8
+  else:
+    result.add x
+  result.add '\''
 
-proc repr*(x: string): string {.noSideEffect.} =
+proc repr*(x: string | cstring): string {.noSideEffect.} =
   ## repr for a string argument. Returns `x`
-  ## but quoted.
-  '"' & x & '"'
+  ## converted to a quoted and escaped string.
+  result.add '\"'
+  for i in 0..<x.len:
+    if x[i] in {'"', '\\', '\0'..'\31', '\127'..'\255'}:
+      result.add '\\'
+    case x[i]:
+    of '\n':
+      result.add "n\n"
+    of '\0'..'\9', '\11'..'\31', '\127'..'\255':
+      result.add $x[i].uint8
+    else:
+      result.add x[i]
+  result.add '\"'
 
 proc repr*[Enum: enum](x: Enum): string {.magic: "EnumToStr", noSideEffect.}
   ## repr for an enumeration argument. This works for
@@ -68,6 +82,10 @@ proc repr*(p: pointer): string =
         result[j] = HexChars[n and 0xF]
         n = n shr 4
 
+proc repr*(p: proc): string =
+  ## repr of a proc as its address
+  repr(cast[pointer](p))
+
 template repr*(x: distinct): string =
   repr(distinctBase(typeof(x))(x))
 
diff --git a/tests/arc/trepr.nim b/tests/arc/trepr.nim
index a870b40b7f037..9eb2ed43f2db4 100644
--- a/tests/arc/trepr.nim
+++ b/tests/arc/trepr.nim
@@ -62,3 +62,9 @@ var c2 = new tuple[member: ref seq[string]]
 c2.member = new seq[string]
 c2.member[] = @["hello"]
 echo c2.repr
+
+proc p2 =
+  echo "hey"
+
+discard repr p2
+