diff --git a/src/V3SymTable.h b/src/V3SymTable.h
index 43f1adec9..cc6940fe4 100644
--- a/src/V3SymTable.h
+++ b/src/V3SymTable.h
@@ -64,8 +64,8 @@ public:
 
     void dumpIterate(std::ostream& os, VSymConstMap& doneSymsr, const string& indent,
                      int numLevels, const string& searchName) const {
-        os << indent << "+ " << std::left << std::setw(30)
-           << (searchName == "" ? "\"\"" : searchName) << std::setw(0) << std::right;
+        os << indent << "+ " << std::left << std::setw(30) << ("'"s + searchName + "'"s)
+           << std::setw(0) << std::right;
         os << "  se" << cvtToHex(this) << std::setw(0);
         os << "  fallb=se" << cvtToHex(m_fallbackp);
         if (m_symPrefix != "") os << "  symPrefix=" << m_symPrefix;