diff --git a/src/CompilerBase.php b/src/CompilerBase.php
index d8dd53d6..7b1cba50 100644
--- a/src/CompilerBase.php
+++ b/src/CompilerBase.php
@@ -1312,12 +1312,23 @@ class CompilerBase implements PropertyAccessContext
     protected function getLiteralString(string $string): string
     {
         if ($this->noLiteralStrings) {
-            return '"' . $this->escapeString($string) . '"';
+            return $this->getInlineString($string);
         }
         $index = $this->literalStrings[$string] ?? $this->addLiteralString($string);
         return self::LITERAL_STRINGS . '[' . $index . ']';
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Generates a PHP string value without adding it to the literal-string table.
+     *
+     * A C++ string literal may contain an embedded NUL, but passing it as a
+     * const char* would truncate it at that byte. ZEND_STRL preserves its length.
+     */
+    protected function getInlineString(string $string): string
+    {
+        return self::TYPE_STR . '{ZEND_STRL(' . $this->genCharPtr($string, true) . ')}';
+    }
+
     protected function parseScalar(Node\Scalar $expr): string
     {
         $type = $expr->getType();
@@ -1338,7 +1349,7 @@ class CompilerBase implements PropertyAccessContext
                 }
                 return $this->parseScalarFloat($expr);
             case 'Scalar_String':
-                return $expr->hasAttribute('noLiteralString') ? $this->genCharPtr($expr->value, true) : $this->getLiteralString($expr->value);
+                return $expr->hasAttribute('noLiteralString') ? $this->getInlineString($expr->value) : $this->getLiteralString($expr->value);
             default:
                 abort($expr);
                 break;
diff --git a/tests/aot/basic/embedded-null-string.phpt b/tests/aot/basic/embedded-null-string.phpt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6131c00f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/aot/basic/embedded-null-string.phpt
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+--TEST--
+Embedded NUL bytes in string literals
+--FILE--
+<?php
+
+function main(): void
+{
+    $value = "hello \0 world";
+
+    var_dump(strlen($value));
+    var_dump(bin2hex($value));
+    var_dump($value === "hello \0 world");
+    var_dump($value . "!" === "hello \0 world!");
+    var_dump(eval('return "A\\0B";') === "A\0B");
+}
+?>
+--EXPECT--
+int(13)
+string(26) "68656c6c6f200020776f726c64"
+bool(true)
+bool(true)
+bool(true)
diff --git a/tests/std/strings/trim.phpt b/tests/std/strings/trim.phpt
index 91f8caa3..ade3a8ab 100644
--- a/tests/std/strings/trim.phpt
+++ b/tests/std/strings/trim.phpt
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 trim(), rtrim() and ltrim() functions
 --SKIPIF--
 <?php
-echo 'skip C++ string literals do not support embedded null bytes (\\0)';
+echo 'skip trim() does not yet handle form-feed whitespace';
 ?>
 --FILE--
 <?php