Hi,

In some cases, a string variable can be optimized out by the
compiler, e.g., because it is not referenced anywhere in the code.
Debug info may still be generated for such cases, so printing
the variables contents should still work.  GDB is almost handling
that -- it's just the final glue is missing.  Here's a patch that adds
it, and a new testcase.

In C, it would look something like:

 const char a_string[] = "hello world!\n";

 int main ()
 {
 }

An unpatched GDB prints:

 (gdb) p a_string
 $1 = '\0' <repeats 13 times>

Patched prints:

 (gdb) p a_string
 $1 = "hello world!\n"

-- 
Pedro Alves