diff --git a/hphp/runtime/base/variable_serializer.cpp b/hphp/runtime/base/variable_serializer.cpp
index 186d1419c..c7de46cea 100644
--- a/hphp/runtime/base/variable_serializer.cpp
+++ b/hphp/runtime/base/variable_serializer.cpp
@@ -268,7 +268,6 @@ void VariableSerializer::write(const char *v, int len /* = -1 */,
     m_buf->append(v, len);
     break;
   }
-  case DebuggerDump:
   case VarExport: {
     m_buf->append('\'');
     const char *p = v;
@@ -325,6 +324,7 @@ void VariableSerializer::write(const char *v, int len /* = -1 */,
     m_buf->appendJsonEscape(v, len, m_option);
     break;
   }
+  case DebuggerDump:
   case PHPOutput: {
     m_buf->append('"');
     for (int i = 0; i < len; ++i) {
@@ -519,6 +519,7 @@ void VariableSerializer::writeArrayHeader(int size, bool isVectorData) {
   info.indent_delta = 0;
 
   switch (m_type) {
+  case DebuggerDump:
   case PrintR:
     if (!m_rsrcName.empty()) {
       m_buf->append("Resource id #");
@@ -608,7 +609,6 @@ void VariableSerializer::writeArrayHeader(int size, bool isVectorData) {
     }
     break;
   case JSON:
-  case DebuggerDump:
     info.is_vector =
       (m_objClass.empty() || m_objCode == 'V' || m_objCode == 'K') &&
       isVectorData;
@@ -664,7 +664,7 @@ void VariableSerializer::writePropertyKey(CStrRef prop) {
     }
   } else {
     m_buf->append(prop);
-    if (m_type != PrintR) m_buf->append('"');
+    if (m_type != PrintR && m_type != DebuggerDump) m_buf->append('"');
   }
 }
 
@@ -678,6 +678,7 @@ void VariableSerializer::writeArrayKey(Variant key) {
   }
   ArrayInfo &info = m_arrayInfos.back();
   switch (m_type) {
+  case DebuggerDump:
   case PrintR: {
     indent();
     m_buf->append('[');
@@ -718,7 +719,6 @@ void VariableSerializer::writeArrayKey(Variant key) {
     write(key);
     break;
   case JSON:
-  case DebuggerDump:
     if (!info.first_element) {
       m_buf->append(',');
     }
@@ -824,8 +824,10 @@ void VariableSerializer::writeArrayFooter() {
 
   m_indent -= info.indent_delta;
   switch (m_type) {
+  case DebuggerDump:
   case PrintR:
     if (m_rsrcName.empty()) {
+      if (m_type == DebuggerDump) m_buf->append("\n");
       indent();
       m_buf->append(")\n");
       if (m_indent > 0) {
@@ -860,7 +862,6 @@ void VariableSerializer::writeArrayFooter() {
     m_buf->append('}');
     break;
   case JSON:
-  case DebuggerDump:
     if (m_type == JSON && m_option & k_JSON_PRETTY_PRINT) {
       m_buf->append("\n");
       indent();
diff --git a/hphp/runtime/base/variable_serializer.h b/hphp/runtime/base/variable_serializer.h
index b4533ea74..9946c4fb0 100644
--- a/hphp/runtime/base/variable_serializer.h
+++ b/hphp/runtime/base/variable_serializer.h
@@ -29,8 +29,7 @@ class ClassInfo;
 
 /**
  * Maintaining states during serialization of a variable. We use this single
- * class to uniformly serialize variables according to different formats:
- * print_r(), var_export(), var_dump(), debug_zval_dump() or serialize().
+ * class to uniformly serialize variables according to different formats.
  */
 class VariableSerializer {
 public:
@@ -38,16 +37,16 @@ public:
    * Supported formats.
    */
   enum Type {
-    PrintR,
-    VarExport,
-    VarDump,
-    DebugDump,
-    DebuggerDump,
-    Serialize,
-    JSON,
-    APCSerialize,
-    DebuggerSerialize,
-    PHPOutput,
+    PrintR, //print_r()
+    VarExport, //var_export()
+    VarDump, //var_dump()
+    DebugDump, //debug_zval_dump()
+    DebuggerDump, //used by hphp debugger to obtain user visible output
+    Serialize, // serialize()
+    JSON, //json_encode()
+    APCSerialize, //used in APC serialization (controlled by switch)
+    DebuggerSerialize, //used by hphp debugger for client<->proxy communication
+    PHPOutput, //used by compiler to output scalar values into byte code
   };
 
   /**
diff --git a/hphp/runtime/eval/debugger/debugger_client.cpp b/hphp/runtime/eval/debugger/debugger_client.cpp
index 5abc68cfa..50e494969 100644
--- a/hphp/runtime/eval/debugger/debugger_client.cpp
+++ b/hphp/runtime/eval/debugger/debugger_client.cpp
@@ -332,7 +332,7 @@ String DebuggerClient::FormatVariable(CVarRef v, int maxlen /* = 80 */,
     try {
       VariableSerializer::Type t = vardump ?
                                    VariableSerializer::VarDump :
-                                   VariableSerializer::PrintR;
+                                   VariableSerializer::DebuggerDump;
       VariableSerializer vs(t, 0, 2);
       value = vs.serialize(v, true);
     } catch (StringBufferLimitException &e) {
diff --git a/hphp/test/debugger_tests/printThis.expectf b/hphp/test/debugger_tests/printThis.expectf
index 2575253d7..f7d72889b 100644
--- a/hphp/test/debugger_tests/printThis.expectf
+++ b/hphp/test/debugger_tests/printThis.expectf
@@ -13,8 +13,7 @@ hphpd> run
 hphpd> print $this
 Foo Object
 (
-    [prop] => Hello
-
+    [prop] => "Hello\n"
 )
 
 hphpd> quit