diff --git a/compiler/lexer.cpp b/compiler/lexer.cpp
index 6d42542e2..4c6709509 100644
--- a/compiler/lexer.cpp
+++ b/compiler/lexer.cpp
@@ -251,7 +251,7 @@ Lexer::SynthesizeIncludePathToken()
 
     if (!open_c)
         open_c = '"';
-    tok->data = ke::StringPrintf("%c%s", open_c, name);
+    tok->atom = cc_.atom(ke::StringPrintf("%c%s", open_c, name));
 }
 
 /*  ftoi
@@ -469,7 +469,7 @@ void Lexer::HandleDirectives() {
                 }
 
                 auto tok = PushSynthesizedToken(tSYN_PRAGMA_UNUSED, col);
-                tok->data = ke::Join(parts, ",");
+                tok->atom = cc_.atom(ke::Join(parts, ","));
             } else {
                 error(207); /* unknown #pragma */
             }
@@ -1002,6 +1002,7 @@ void Lexer::HandleMultiLineComment() {
 }
 
 void Lexer::packedstring(full_token_t* tok, char term) {
+    std::string data;
     while (true) {
         char c = peek();
         if (c == term || c == 0)
@@ -1012,19 +1013,20 @@ void Lexer::packedstring(full_token_t* tok, char term) {
         }
         if (IsNewline(c))
             break;
-        packedstring_char(tok);
+        packedstring_char(&data);
     }
+    tok->atom = cc_.atom(data);
 }
 
-void Lexer::packedstring_char(full_token_t* tok) {
+void Lexer::packedstring_char(std::string* data) {
     bool is_codepoint;
     cell ch = litchar(kLitcharUtf8, &is_codepoint);
     if (ch < 0)
         return;
     if (is_codepoint)
-        UnicodeCodepointToUtf8(ch, &tok->data);
+        UnicodeCodepointToUtf8(ch, data);
     else
-        tok->data.push_back(static_cast<char>(ch));
+        data->push_back(static_cast<char>(ch));
 }
 
 /*  lex(lexvalue,lexsym)        Lexical Analysis
@@ -1325,7 +1327,6 @@ Lexer::PushSynthesizedToken(TokenKind kind, int col)
     auto tok = current_token();
     tok->id = kind;
     tok->value = 0;
-    tok->data.clear();
     tok->atom = nullptr;
     tok->start.line = state_.tokline;
     tok->start.col = col;
@@ -1681,7 +1682,6 @@ bool Lexer::lex_number(full_token_t* tok) {
 
 void Lexer::LexStringLiteral(full_token_t* tok, int flags) {
     tok->id = tSTRING;
-    tok->data.clear();
     tok->atom = nullptr;
     tok->value = -1;  // Catch consumers expecting automatic litadd().
 
@@ -1693,7 +1693,11 @@ void Lexer::LexStringLiteral(full_token_t* tok, int flags) {
             error(37);
     } else {
         advance();
-        packedstring_char(tok);
+
+        std::string data;
+        packedstring_char(&data);
+        tok->atom = cc_.atom(data);
+
         /* invalid char declaration */
         if (!match_char('\''))
             error(27); /* invalid character constant (must be one character) */
@@ -2369,24 +2373,29 @@ cell Lexer::get_utf8_char() {
 }
 
 void Lexer::LexStringContinuation() {
+    ke::SaveAndSet<bool> stop_recursion(&in_string_continuation_, true);
+
+    if (!peek(tELLIPS))
+        return;
+
     auto initial = std::move(*current_token());
     assert(initial.id == tSTRING);
 
-    ke::SaveAndSet<bool> stop_recursion(&in_string_continuation_, true);
-
+    std::string data = initial.data();
     while (match(tELLIPS)) {
         if (match(tCHAR_LITERAL)) {
-            initial.data.push_back(current_token()->value);
+            data.push_back(current_token()->value);
             continue;
         }
         if (!need(tSTRING)) {
             lexpush();
             break;
         }
-        initial.data += current_token()->data;
+        data += current_token()->data();
     }
 
     *current_token() = std::move(initial);
+    current_token()->atom = cc_.atom(data);
 }
 
 bool Lexer::HasMacro(sp::Atom* atom) {
diff --git a/compiler/lexer.h b/compiler/lexer.h
index e8ed736f0..81d9cdf11 100644
--- a/compiler/lexer.h
+++ b/compiler/lexer.h
@@ -41,10 +41,12 @@ struct token_pos_t {
 struct full_token_t {
     int id = 0;
     int value = 0;
-    std::string data;
     sp::Atom* atom = nullptr;
     token_pos_t start;
     token_pos_t end;
+    const std::string& data() const {
+        return atom->str();
+    }
 };
 
 #define MAX_TOKEN_DEPTH 4
@@ -366,7 +368,7 @@ class Lexer
     void lex_float(full_token_t* tok, cell whole);
     cell litchar(int flags, bool* is_codepoint = nullptr);
     void packedstring(full_token_t* tok, char term);
-    void packedstring_char(full_token_t* tok);
+    void packedstring_char(std::string* data);
 
     bool IsSkipping() const {
         return skiplevel_ > 0 && (ifstack_[skiplevel_ - 1] & SKIPMODE) == SKIPMODE;
diff --git a/compiler/parse-node.h b/compiler/parse-node.h
index 6e571aa3f..3bea599d3 100644
--- a/compiler/parse-node.h
+++ b/compiler/parse-node.h
@@ -258,7 +258,7 @@ class ContinueStmt : public Stmt
 class StaticAssertStmt : public Stmt
 {
   public:
-    explicit StaticAssertStmt(const token_pos_t& pos, Expr* expr, PoolString* text)
+    explicit StaticAssertStmt(const token_pos_t& pos, Expr* expr, sp::Atom* text)
       : Stmt(StmtKind::StaticAssertStmt, pos),
         expr_(expr),
         text_(text)
@@ -270,11 +270,11 @@ class StaticAssertStmt : public Stmt
     static bool is_a(Stmt* node) { return node->kind() == StmtKind::StaticAssertStmt; }
 
     Expr* expr() const { return expr_; }
-    PoolString* text() const { return text_; }
+    sp::Atom* text() const { return text_; }
 
   private:
     Expr* expr_;
-    PoolString* text_;
+    sp::Atom* text_;
 };
 
 class Decl : public Stmt
@@ -1161,21 +1161,21 @@ class FloatExpr final : public TaggedValueExpr
 class StringExpr final : public Expr
 {
   public:
-    StringExpr(const token_pos_t& pos, const char* str, size_t len)
+    StringExpr(const token_pos_t& pos, sp::Atom* atom)
       : Expr(ExprKind::StringExpr, pos),
-        text_(new PoolString(str, len))
+        text_(atom)
     {}
 
     void ProcessUses(SemaContext&) override {}
 
     static bool is_a(Expr* node) { return node->kind() == ExprKind::StringExpr; }
 
-    PoolString* text() const {
+    sp::Atom* text() const {
         return text_;
     }
 
   private:
-    PoolString* text_;
+    sp::Atom* text_;
 };
 
 class NewArrayExpr final : public Expr
diff --git a/compiler/parser.cpp b/compiler/parser.cpp
index 092b74cc2..bf0dcb342 100644
--- a/compiler/parser.cpp
+++ b/compiler/parser.cpp
@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ Parser::Parse()
             case tpTRYINCLUDE: {
                 if (!lexer_->need(tSYN_INCLUDE_PATH))
                     break;
-                auto name = lexer_->current_token()->data;
+                auto name = lexer_->current_token()->data();
                 auto result = lexer_->PlungeFile(name.c_str() + 1, (name[0] != '<'), TRUE);
                 if (!result && tok != tpTRYINCLUDE) {
                     report(417) << name.substr(1);
@@ -601,7 +601,7 @@ Parser::parse_pragma_unused()
 {
     auto pos = lexer_->pos();
 
-    auto data = std::move(lexer_->current_token()->data);
+    const auto& data = lexer_->current_token()->data();
     std::vector<std::string> raw_names = ke::Split(data, ",");
     std::vector<sp::Atom*> names;
     for (const auto& raw_name : raw_names)
@@ -1061,8 +1061,8 @@ Parser::constant()
         case tRATIONAL:
             return new FloatExpr(cc_, pos, lexer_->current_token()->value);
         case tSTRING: {
-            const auto& str = lexer_->current_token()->data;
-            return new StringExpr(pos, str.c_str(), str.size());
+            const auto& atom = lexer_->current_token()->atom;
+            return new StringExpr(pos, atom);
         }
         case tTRUE:
             return new TaggedValueExpr(lexer_->pos(), cc_.types()->tag_bool(), 1);
@@ -1177,8 +1177,8 @@ Parser::struct_init()
         Expr* expr = nullptr;
         switch (lexer_->lex()) {
             case tSTRING: {
-                const auto& str = lexer_->current_token()->data;
-                expr = new StringExpr(pos, str.c_str(), str.size());
+                const auto& atom = lexer_->current_token()->atom;
+                expr = new StringExpr(pos, atom);
                 break;
             }
             case tCHAR_LITERAL:
@@ -1215,10 +1215,10 @@ Parser::parse_static_assert()
     if (!expr)
         return nullptr;
 
-    PoolString * text = nullptr;
+    sp::Atom* text = nullptr;
     if (lexer_->match(',') && lexer_->need(tSTRING)) {
         auto tok = lexer_->current_token();
-        text = new PoolString(tok->data.c_str(), tok->data.size());
+        text = tok->atom;
     }
 
     lexer_->need(')');
@@ -1261,7 +1261,7 @@ Parser::var_init(int vclass)
 
     if (lexer_->match(tSTRING)) {
         auto tok = lexer_->current_token();
-        return new StringExpr(tok->start, tok->data.c_str(), tok->data.size());
+        return new StringExpr(tok->start, tok->atom);
     }
 
     // We'll check const or symbol-ness for non-sLOCALs in the semantic pass.
diff --git a/compiler/semantics.cpp b/compiler/semantics.cpp
index 7607f625d..e0b94acd0 100644
--- a/compiler/semantics.cpp
+++ b/compiler/semantics.cpp
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ bool Semantics::CheckPstructDecl(VarDeclBase* decl) {
         if (ps->args[i]->type.ident == iREFARRAY) {
             assert(ps->args[i]->type.tag() == types_->tag_string());
 
-            auto expr = new StringExpr(decl->pos(), "", 0);
+            auto expr = new StringExpr(decl->pos(), cc_.atom(""));
             init->fields().push_back(new StructInitFieldExpr(ps->args[i]->name, expr,
                                                              decl->pos()));
         }