diff --git a/parse.c b/parse.c
index 823715b15d9064060b036000d44fc840dcea85e6..f21e8ae56a6fde77c64db77555b5b8bd16f00b12 100644
--- a/parse.c
+++ b/parse.c
@@ -675,6 +675,23 @@ void skip_excess_elements() {
 Initializer *gvar_initializer(Initializer *cur, Type *ty) {
   Token *tok = token;
 
+  if (ty->kind == TY_ARRAY && ty->base->kind == TY_CHAR &&
+      token->kind == TK_STR) {
+    token = token->next;
+
+    if (ty->is_incomplete) {
+      ty->array_size = tok->cont_len;
+      ty->is_incomplete = false;
+    }
+
+    int len = (ty->array_size < tok->cont_len)
+      ? ty->array_size : tok->cont_len;
+
+    for (int i = 0; i < len; i++)
+      cur = new_init_val(cur, 1, tok->contents[i]);
+    return new_init_zero(cur, ty->array_size - len);
+  }
+
   if (ty->kind == TY_ARRAY) {
     bool open = consume("{");
     int i = 0;
diff --git a/tests b/tests
index 70480a3d96c110b90649a214d10392bf6597c181..ccc0995cbc33818e849fe9c55515897d8163d028 100644
--- a/tests
+++ b/tests
@@ -23,6 +23,9 @@ struct {int a[2];} g13[2] = {{1, 2}, 3, 4};
 struct {int a[2];} g14[2] = {1, 2, 3, 4};
 char *g15 = {"foo"};
 char g16[][4] = {'f', 'o', 'o', 0, 'b', 'a', 'r', 0};
+char g17[] = "foobar";
+char g18[10] = "foobar";
+char g19[3] = "foobar";
 
 int assert(long expected, long actual, char *code) {
   if (expected == actual) {
@@ -564,6 +567,14 @@ int main() {
   assert(0, strcmp(g16[0], "foo"), "strcmp(g16[0], \"foo\")");
   assert(0, strcmp(g16[1], "bar"), "strcmp(g16[1], \"bar\")");
 
+  assert(7, sizeof(g17), "sizeof(g17)");
+  assert(10, sizeof(g18), "sizeof(g18)");
+  assert(3, sizeof(g19), "sizeof(g19)");
+
+  assert(0, memcmp(g17, "foobar", 7), "memcmp(g17, \"foobar\", 7)");
+  assert(0, memcmp(g18, "foobar\0\0\0", 10), "memcmp(g18, \"foobar\\0\\0\\0\", 10)");
+  assert(0, memcmp(g19, "foo", 3), "memcmp(g19, \"foo\", 3)");
+
   printf("OK\n");
   return 0;
 }