diff --git a/bin/swh-hashdir b/bin/swh-hashdir
index 24373b2..f3f30cc 100755
--- a/bin/swh-hashdir
+++ b/bin/swh-hashdir
@@ -1,28 +1,28 @@
 #!/usr/bin/python3
 
 # Copyright (C) 2015  The Software Heritage developers
 # See the AUTHORS file at the top-level directory of this distribution
 # License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
 
 import os
 import sys
 
 from swh.core.hashutil import hashfile, hash_to_hex
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     dirname = sys.argv[1]
 
     hashes = {}
     for root, _dirs, files in os.walk(dirname):
         for name in files:
             path = os.path.join(root, name)
             hashes[path] = {
                 algo: hash_to_hex(checksum)
                 for algo, checksum in hashfile(path).items()
             }
             hashes[path]['length'] = os.path.getsize(path)
 
     for (path, checksums) in hashes.items():
-        print("%(sha1)s\t%(sha1_git)s\t%(sha256)s\t%(length)d\tvisible" %  # NOQA
+        print("\\\\x%(sha1)s\t\\\\x%(sha1_git)s\t\\\\x%(sha256)s\t%(length)d\tvisible" %  # NOQA
               checksums)