diff --git a/pkg/sessionctx/variable/session.go b/pkg/sessionctx/variable/session.go
index 9d47eb8cb13e1..7a12e5d9d7dbf 100644
--- a/pkg/sessionctx/variable/session.go
+++ b/pkg/sessionctx/variable/session.go
@@ -1848,7 +1848,7 @@ func (p *PlanCacheParamList) String() string {
 		p.forNonPrepCache { // hide non-prep parameter values by default
 		return ""
 	}
-	return " [arguments: " + types.DatumsToStrNoErr(p.paramValues) + "]"
+	return " [arguments: " + types.DatumsToStrNoErrSmart(p.paramValues) + "]"
 }
 
 // Append appends a parameter value to the PlanCacheParams.
diff --git a/pkg/types/datum.go b/pkg/types/datum.go
index 78ebe0d62f346..c765f1bbd228b 100644
--- a/pkg/types/datum.go
+++ b/pkg/types/datum.go
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
 	"time"
+	"unicode"
 	"unicode/utf8"
 	"unsafe"
 
@@ -2265,8 +2266,34 @@ func (ds *datumsSorter) Swap(i, j int) {
 
 var strBuilderPool = sync.Pool{New: func() interface{} { return &strings.Builder{} }}
 
+// Check if a string is considered printable
+//
+// Checks
+// 1. Must be valid UTF-8
+// 2. Must not contain control characters like NUL (0x0) and backspace (0x8)
+func isPrintable(s string) bool {
+	if !utf8.ValidString(s) {
+		return false
+	}
+	for _, r := range s {
+		if unicode.IsControl(r) {
+			return false
+		}
+	}
+	return true
+}
+
 // DatumsToString converts several datums to formatted string.
 func DatumsToString(datums []Datum, handleSpecialValue bool) (string, error) {
+	return datumsToString(datums, handleSpecialValue, false)
+}
+
+// DatumsToStringSmart is like DatumsToString, but with smart detection of non-printable data
+func DatumsToStringSmart(datums []Datum, handleSpecialValue bool) (string, error) {
+	return datumsToString(datums, handleSpecialValue, true)
+}
+
+func datumsToString(datums []Datum, handleSpecialValue bool, binaryAsHex bool) (string, error) {
 	n := len(datums)
 	builder := strBuilderPool.Get().(*strings.Builder)
 	defer func() {
@@ -2304,9 +2331,14 @@ func DatumsToString(datums []Datum, handleSpecialValue bool) (string, error) {
 			str = str[:logDatumLen]
 		}
 		if datum.Kind() == KindString {
-			builder.WriteString(`"`)
-			builder.WriteString(str)
-			builder.WriteString(`"`)
+			if !binaryAsHex || isPrintable(str) {
+				builder.WriteString(`"`)
+				builder.WriteString(str)
+				builder.WriteString(`"`)
+			} else {
+				// Print as hex-literal instead
+				fmt.Fprintf(builder, "0x%X", str)
+			}
 		} else {
 			builder.WriteString(str)
 		}
@@ -2330,6 +2362,15 @@ func DatumsToStrNoErr(datums []Datum) string {
 	return str
 }
 
+// DatumsToStrNoErrSmart converts some datums to a formatted string.
+// If an error occurs, it will print a log instead of returning an error.
+// It also enables detection of non-pritable arguments
+func DatumsToStrNoErrSmart(datums []Datum) string {
+	str, err := DatumsToStringSmart(datums, true)
+	terror.Log(errors.Trace(err))
+	return str
+}
+
 // CloneRow deep copies a Datum slice.
 func CloneRow(dr []Datum) []Datum {
 	c := make([]Datum, len(dr))
diff --git a/pkg/types/datum_test.go b/pkg/types/datum_test.go
index 88b231194b15d..d7fed625ccd61 100644
--- a/pkg/types/datum_test.go
+++ b/pkg/types/datum_test.go
@@ -792,3 +792,38 @@ func BenchmarkDatumsToStringLongStr(b *testing.B) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+func TestIsPrintable(t *testing.T) {
+	testcases := []struct {
+		input string
+		valid bool
+	}{
+		{string([]byte{0x61, 0x62, 0x63}), true},             // abc
+		{string([]byte{0x61, 0x0, 0x62, 0x63}), false},       // a<NUL>bc
+		{string([]byte{0x61, 0x62, 0x63, 0xc3, 0xa9}), true}, // abcé
+		{string([]byte{0x61, 0x62, 0x63, 0xc3}), false},      // abc<half char>
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range testcases {
+		r := isPrintable(tc.input)
+		require.Equal(t, tc.valid, r, "%v (0x%X) expected printable: %v (but got %v)",
+			tc.input, tc.input, tc.valid, r)
+	}
+}
+
+func BenchmarkIsPrintable(b *testing.B) {
+	inputs := []string{
+		"abc",
+		"abcé",
+		string([]byte{0x61, 0x0, 0x62, 0x63}), // broken: contains NUL
+		string([]byte{0x61, 0x62, 0x63, 0xc3, 0xa9}), // broken: contains half char
+		strings.Repeat("abc", 1000),                  // longer string
+	}
+	b.ResetTimer()
+
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		for _, input := range inputs {
+			isPrintable(input)
+		}
+	}
+}