diff --git a/src/pkg/strings/strings.go b/src/pkg/strings/strings.go
index 5f009e5485..44dcf99b65 100644
--- a/src/pkg/strings/strings.go
+++ b/src/pkg/strings/strings.go
@@ -312,9 +312,19 @@ func Map(mapping func(rune int) int, s string) string {
 	// fine.  It could also shrink but that falls out naturally.
 	maxbytes := len(s) // length of b
 	nbytes := 0        // number of bytes encoded in b
-	b := make([]byte, maxbytes)
-	for _, c := range s {
+	// The output buffer b is initialized on demand, the first
+	// time a character differs.
+	var b []byte
+
+	for i, c := range s {
 		rune := mapping(c)
+		if b == nil {
+			if rune == c {
+				continue
+			}
+			b = make([]byte, maxbytes)
+			nbytes = copy(b, s[:i])
+		}
 		if rune >= 0 {
 			wid := 1
 			if rune >= utf8.RuneSelf {
@@ -330,6 +340,9 @@ func Map(mapping func(rune int) int, s string) string {
 			nbytes += utf8.EncodeRune(b[nbytes:maxbytes], rune)
 		}
 	}
+	if b == nil {
+		return s
+	}
 	return string(b[0:nbytes])
 }
 
diff --git a/src/pkg/strings/strings_test.go b/src/pkg/strings/strings_test.go
index d75f1ad9c6..c45b1485d8 100644
--- a/src/pkg/strings/strings_test.go
+++ b/src/pkg/strings/strings_test.go
@@ -6,10 +6,12 @@ package strings_test
 
 import (
 	"os"
+	"reflect"
 	"strconv"
 	. "strings"
 	"testing"
 	"unicode"
+	"unsafe"
 	"utf8"
 )
 
@@ -429,12 +431,32 @@ func TestMap(t *testing.T) {
 	if m != expect {
 		t.Errorf("drop: expected %q got %q", expect, m)
 	}
+
+	// 6. Identity
+	identity := func(rune int) int {
+		return rune
+	}
+	orig := "Input string that we expect not to be copied."
+	m = Map(identity, orig)
+	if (*reflect.StringHeader)(unsafe.Pointer(&orig)).Data !=
+		(*reflect.StringHeader)(unsafe.Pointer(&m)).Data {
+		t.Error("unexpected copy during identity map")
+	}
 }
 
 func TestToUpper(t *testing.T) { runStringTests(t, ToUpper, "ToUpper", upperTests) }
 
 func TestToLower(t *testing.T) { runStringTests(t, ToLower, "ToLower", lowerTests) }
 
+func BenchmarkMapNoChanges(b *testing.B) {
+	identity := func(rune int) int {
+		return rune
+	}
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		Map(identity, "Some string that won't be modified.")
+	}
+}
+
 func TestSpecialCase(t *testing.T) {
 	lower := "abcçdefgğhıijklmnoöprsştuüvyz"
 	upper := "ABCÇDEFGĞHIİJKLMNOÖPRSŞTUÜVYZ"