diff --git a/src/scan.l b/src/scan.l
index 5052e7583c..4a7c9f363a 100644
--- a/src/scan.l
+++ b/src/scan.l
@@ -565,7 +565,7 @@ F	RET_CONST(zeek::val_mgr->False()->Ref())
 
 <RE>[\\\n]	return yytext[0];	// should cause a parse error
 
-<*>.	zeek::reporter->Error("unrecognized character - %s", yytext);
+<*>.	zeek::reporter->Error("unrecognized character: '%s'", zeek::util::get_escaped_string(yytext, false).data());
 
 <<EOF>>	last_tok[0] = '\0'; return EOF;