diff --git a/db/dbformat.cc b/db/dbformat.cc
index 28e11b398..7b7336abc 100644
--- a/db/dbformat.cc
+++ b/db/dbformat.cc
@@ -20,22 +20,22 @@ void AppendInternalKey(std::string* result, const ParsedInternalKey& key) {
   PutFixed64(result, PackSequenceAndType(key.sequence, key.type));
 }
 
-std::string ParsedInternalKey::DebugString() const {
+std::string ParsedInternalKey::DebugString(bool hex) const {
   char buf[50];
   snprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), "' @ %llu : %d",
            (unsigned long long) sequence,
            int(type));
   std::string result = "'";
-  result += user_key.ToString();
+  result += user_key.ToString(hex);
   result += buf;
   return result;
 }
 
-std::string InternalKey::DebugString() const {
+std::string InternalKey::DebugString(bool hex) const {
   std::string result;
   ParsedInternalKey parsed;
   if (ParseInternalKey(rep_, &parsed)) {
-    result = parsed.DebugString();
+    result = parsed.DebugString(hex);
   } else {
     result = "(bad)";
     result.append(EscapeString(rep_));
diff --git a/db/dbformat.h b/db/dbformat.h
index 89f42fbf5..66f0e76fa 100644
--- a/db/dbformat.h
+++ b/db/dbformat.h
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ struct ParsedInternalKey {
   ParsedInternalKey() { }  // Intentionally left uninitialized (for speed)
   ParsedInternalKey(const Slice& u, const SequenceNumber& seq, ValueType t)
       : user_key(u), sequence(seq), type(t) { }
-  std::string DebugString() const;
+  std::string DebugString(bool hex = false) const;
 };
 
 // Return the length of the encoding of "key".
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ class InternalKey {
 
   void Clear() { rep_.clear(); }
 
-  std::string DebugString() const;
+  std::string DebugString(bool hex = false) const;
 };
 
 inline int InternalKeyComparator::Compare(
diff --git a/db/version_set.cc b/db/version_set.cc
index 4852148d6..03bd2a757 100644
--- a/db/version_set.cc
+++ b/db/version_set.cc
@@ -612,7 +612,7 @@ void Version::ExtendOverlappingInputs(
   }
 }
 
-std::string Version::DebugString() const {
+std::string Version::DebugString(bool hex) const {
   std::string r;
   for (int level = 0; level < vset_->NumberLevels(); level++) {
     // E.g.,
@@ -631,9 +631,9 @@ std::string Version::DebugString() const {
       r.push_back(':');
       AppendNumberTo(&r, files[i]->file_size);
       r.append("[");
-      r.append(files[i]->smallest.DebugString());
+      r.append(files[i]->smallest.DebugString(hex));
       r.append(" .. ");
-      r.append(files[i]->largest.DebugString());
+      r.append(files[i]->largest.DebugString(hex));
       r.append("]\n");
     }
   }
@@ -1233,7 +1233,7 @@ Status VersionSet::Recover() {
 }
 
 Status VersionSet::DumpManifest(Options& options, std::string& dscname,
-  bool verbose) {
+    bool verbose, bool hex) {
   struct LogReporter : public log::Reader::Reporter {
     Status* status;
     virtual void Corruption(size_t bytes, const Status& s) {
@@ -1347,7 +1347,7 @@ Status VersionSet::DumpManifest(Options& options, std::string& dscname,
     printf("manifest_file_number %ld next_file_number %ld last_sequence %ld log_number %ld  prev_log_number %ld\n",
            manifest_file_number_, next_file_number_,
            last_sequence, log_number, prev_log_number);
-    printf("%s \n", v->DebugString().c_str());
+    printf("%s \n", v->DebugString(hex).c_str());
   }
 
   return s;
diff --git a/db/version_set.h b/db/version_set.h
index b008d50e7..88e215626 100644
--- a/db/version_set.h
+++ b/db/version_set.h
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ class Version {
   int NumFiles(int level) const { return files_[level].size(); }
 
   // Return a human readable string that describes this version's contents.
-  std::string DebugString() const;
+  std::string DebugString(bool hex = false) const;
 
   // Returns the version nuber of this version
   uint64_t GetVersionNumber() {
@@ -334,7 +334,7 @@ class VersionSet {
 
   // printf contents (for debugging)
   Status DumpManifest(Options& options, std::string& manifestFileName,
-                      bool verbose);
+                      bool verbose, bool hex = false);
 
   // Return a human-readable short (single-line) summary of the data size
   // of files per level.  Uses *scratch as backing store.
diff --git a/include/leveldb/slice.h b/include/leveldb/slice.h
index faa30f395..e0fc9aa25 100644
--- a/include/leveldb/slice.h
+++ b/include/leveldb/slice.h
@@ -63,7 +63,19 @@ class Slice {
   }
 
   // Return a string that contains the copy of the referenced data.
-  std::string ToString() const { return std::string(data_, size_); }
+  std::string ToString(bool hex = false) const {
+    if (hex) {
+      std::string result;
+      char buf[10];
+      for (size_t i = 0; i < size_; i++) {
+        snprintf(buf, 10, "%02X", (unsigned char)data_[i]);
+        result += buf;
+      }
+      return result;
+    } else {
+      return std::string(data_, size_);
+    }
+  }
 
   // Three-way comparison.  Returns value:
   //   <  0 iff "*this" <  "b",
diff --git a/tools/manifest_dump.cc b/tools/manifest_dump.cc
index 2cdf8c7fe..cdb89fd89 100644
--- a/tools/manifest_dump.cc
+++ b/tools/manifest_dump.cc
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 #include "util/logging.h"
 
 static int verbose = 0;
+static int hex = 0;
 
 using namespace leveldb;
 
@@ -40,6 +41,9 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv) {
     } else if (sscanf(argv[i], "--verbose=%ld%c", &n, &junk) == 1 &&
         (n == 0 || n == 1)) {
       verbose = n;
+    } else if (sscanf(argv[i], "--hex=%ld%c", &n, &junk) == 1 &&
+        (n == 0 || n == 1)) {
+      hex = n;
     }
   }
   if (!foundfile) {
@@ -60,7 +64,7 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv) {
 
   VersionSet* versions = new VersionSet(dbname, &options,
                                    tc, cmp);
-  Status s = versions->DumpManifest(options, file, verbose);
+  Status s = versions->DumpManifest(options, file, verbose, hex);
   if (!s.ok()) {
     printf("Error in processing file %s %s\n", manifestfile.c_str(),
            s.ToString().c_str());