diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-trace.c b/tools/perf/builtin-trace.c
index 2d8fd48a47272b45e3b62b139fb66118f65f84b1..dc8cadeb3fa5c23f05ea878c13e7d738485985c0 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-trace.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-trace.c
@@ -1149,7 +1149,7 @@ static size_t syscall_arg__scnprintf_augmented_string(struct syscall_arg *arg, c
 {
 	struct augmented_arg *augmented_arg = arg->augmented.args;
 
-	return scnprintf(bf, size, "%.*s", augmented_arg->size, augmented_arg->value);
+	return scnprintf(bf, size, "\"%.*s\"", augmented_arg->size, augmented_arg->value);
 }
 
 static size_t syscall_arg__scnprintf_filename(char *bf, size_t size,