diff --git a/src/pkg/strconv/atoi.go b/src/pkg/strconv/atoi.go
index e82b6cdba7c..f7b8456725b 100644
--- a/src/pkg/strconv/atoi.go
+++ b/src/pkg/strconv/atoi.go
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ type NumError struct {
 	Error os.Error
 }
 
-func (e *NumError) String() string { return "parsing " + e.Num + ": " + e.Error.String() }
+func (e *NumError) String() string { return `parsing "` + e.Num + `": ` + e.Error.String() }
 
 
 func computeIntsize() uint {