diff --git a/examples/socket/client.php b/examples/socket/client.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..734ec23
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/socket/client.php
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+<?php
+$socket = PyCore::import('socket');
+
+const HOST = "127.0.0.1";
+const PORT = 5432;
+
+$client = $socket->socket($socket->AF_INET, $socket->SOCK_STREAM);
+$client->connect(PyCore::tuple([HOST, PORT]));
+
+while (1) {
+    echo "> ";
+    $msg = trim(fgets(STDIN));
+    if ($msg == 'quit') {
+        break;
+    }
+    $client->sendall(PyCore::bytes($msg));
+    $data = $client->recv(1024);
+    if (empty($data)) {
+        break;
+    }
+    echo strval($data) . PHP_EOL;
+}
diff --git a/examples/socket/server.py b/examples/socket/server.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7664702
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/socket/server.py
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+import socket
+
+HOST = "127.0.0.1"
+PORT = 5432
+
+with socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM) as s:
+    s.bind((HOST, PORT))
+    s.listen()
+    conn, addr = s.accept()
+    with conn:
+        print(f"Connected by {addr}")
+        while True:
+            data = conn.recv(1024)
+            if not data:
+                break
+            conn.sendall(data)
diff --git a/include/phpy.h b/include/phpy.h
index e050c74..9c29895 100644
--- a/include/phpy.h
+++ b/include/phpy.h
@@ -375,6 +375,7 @@ PyObject *new_reference(zval *zv);
 PyObject *new_callable(zval *zv);
 const char *string2utf8(PyObject *pv, ssize_t *len);
 const char *string2char_ptr(PyObject *pv, ssize_t *len);
+void string2zval(PyObject *pv, zval *zv);
 void tuple2argv(zval *argv, PyObject *args, ssize_t size, int begin = 1);
 void release_argv(uint32_t argc, zval *argv);
 }  // namespace python
diff --git a/src/bridge/core.cc b/src/bridge/core.cc
index 97e7294..34168b0 100644
--- a/src/bridge/core.cc
+++ b/src/bridge/core.cc
@@ -481,6 +481,7 @@ namespace python {
 const char *string2utf8(PyObject *pv, ssize_t *len) {
     return PyUnicode_AsUTF8AndSize(pv, len);
 };
+
 const char *string2char_ptr(PyObject *pv, ssize_t *len) {
     const char *c_str;
     if (ZendString_Check(pv)) {
@@ -500,6 +501,24 @@ const char *string2char_ptr(PyObject *pv, ssize_t *len) {
     }
     return c_str;
 }
+
+void string2zval(PyObject *pv, zval *zv) {
+    Py_ssize_t len;
+    auto sval = string2char_ptr(pv, &len);
+    if (sval != NULL) {
+        ZVAL_STRINGL(zv, sval, len);
+        return;
+    }
+    auto value = PyObject_Str(pv);
+    if (value != NULL) {
+        const char *sv = PyUnicode_AsUTF8AndSize(value, &len);
+        ZVAL_STRINGL(zv, sv, len);
+        Py_DECREF(value);
+    } else {
+        phpy::php::throw_error_if_occurred();
+    }
+}
+
 void tuple2argv(zval *argv, PyObject *args, ssize_t size, int begin) {
     Py_ssize_t i;
     for (i = begin; i < size; i++) {
diff --git a/src/php/object.cc b/src/php/object.cc
index f55cbe8..c48f483 100644
--- a/src/php/object.cc
+++ b/src/php/object.cc
@@ -277,16 +277,7 @@ ZEND_METHOD(PyObject, __set) {
 }
 
 ZEND_METHOD(PyObject, __toString) {
-    auto object = phpy_object_get_handle(ZEND_THIS);
-    auto value = PyObject_Str(object);
-    if (value != NULL) {
-        Py_ssize_t sl;
-        const char *sv = PyUnicode_AsUTF8AndSize(value, &sl);
-        ZVAL_STRINGL(return_value, sv, sl);
-        Py_DECREF(value);
-    } else {
-        phpy::php::throw_error_if_occurred();
-    }
+    phpy::python::string2zval(phpy_object_get_handle(ZEND_THIS), return_value);
 }
 
 ZEND_METHOD(PyObject, __invoke) {
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/ObjectTest.php b/tests/phpunit/ObjectTest.php
index f3ef83a..4179117 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/ObjectTest.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/ObjectTest.php
@@ -69,4 +69,11 @@ public function testIter()
         $data = iterator_to_array($fset);
         $this->assertEquals($data, $arr);
     }
+
+    public function testBytes2Str()
+    {
+        $bytes = random_bytes(128);
+        $data = PyCore::bytes($bytes);
+        $this->assertEquals($bytes, strval($data));
+    }
 }