diff --git a/pythonFiles/vscode_datascience_helpers/getVariableInfo/vscodeGetVariableInfo.py b/pythonFiles/vscode_datascience_helpers/getVariableInfo/vscodeGetVariableInfo.py
index 9ca292ac0cc..a1e0e73bdb8 100644
--- a/pythonFiles/vscode_datascience_helpers/getVariableInfo/vscodeGetVariableInfo.py
+++ b/pythonFiles/vscode_datascience_helpers/getVariableInfo/vscodeGetVariableInfo.py
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ def getValue(variable):
             original_display = set_pandas_display_options()
 
         try:
-            return truncateString(_VSCODE_builtins.str(variable))
+            return truncateString(_VSCODE_builtins.repr(variable))
         finally:
             if original_display:
                 set_pandas_display_options(original_display)