diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/types/DirSet.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/types/DirSet.java
index 7fa1b542e..82313df36 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/types/DirSet.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/types/DirSet.java
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 package org.apache.tools.ant.types;
 
 import java.util.Iterator;
-
+import org.apache.tools.ant.DirectoryScanner;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.types.resources.FileResourceIterator;
 
 /**
@@ -91,4 +91,23 @@ public class DirSet extends AbstractFileSet implements ResourceCollection {
         return true;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Returns included directories as a list of semicolon-separated paths.
+     *
+     * @return a <code>String</code> of included directories.
+     */
+    public String toString() {
+        DirectoryScanner ds = getDirectoryScanner(getProject());
+        String[] dirs = ds.getIncludedDirectories();
+        StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();
+
+        for (int i = 0; i < dirs.length; i++) {
+            if (i > 0) {
+                sb.append(';');
+            }
+            sb.append(dirs[i]);
+        }
+        return sb.toString();
+    }
+
 }
diff --git a/src/testcases/org/apache/tools/ant/types/DirSetTest.java b/src/testcases/org/apache/tools/ant/types/DirSetTest.java
index 27a73fb11..e8f60aafc 100644
--- a/src/testcases/org/apache/tools/ant/types/DirSetTest.java
+++ b/src/testcases/org/apache/tools/ant/types/DirSetTest.java
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@
 
 package org.apache.tools.ant.types;
 
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileOutputStream;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.BuildException;
 
 /**
@@ -39,7 +41,7 @@ public class DirSetTest extends AbstractFileSetTest {
         FileSet fs = new FileSet();
         fs.setProject(getProject());
         getProject().addReference("dummy", fs);
-        ds.setRefid(new Reference("dummy"));
+        ds.setRefid(new Reference(getProject(), "dummy"));
         try {
             ds.getDir(getProject());
             fail("DirSet created from FileSet reference");
@@ -50,7 +52,7 @@ public class DirSetTest extends AbstractFileSetTest {
         ds = (DirSet) getInstance();
         ds.setProject(getProject());
         getProject().addReference("dummy2", ds);
-        fs.setRefid(new Reference("dummy2"));
+        fs.setRefid(new Reference(getProject(), "dummy2"));
         try {
             fs.getDir(getProject());
             fail("FileSet created from DirSet reference");
@@ -59,4 +61,22 @@ public class DirSetTest extends AbstractFileSetTest {
         }
     }
 
+    public void testToString() throws Exception {
+        File tmp = File.createTempFile("DirSetTest", "");
+        tmp.delete();
+        File a = new File(tmp, "a");
+        a.mkdirs();
+        File b = new File(tmp, "b");
+        File bc = new File(b, "c");
+        bc.mkdirs();
+        new FileOutputStream(new File(a, "x")).close();
+        new FileOutputStream(new File(b, "x")).close();
+        new FileOutputStream(new File(bc, "x")).close();
+        DirSet ds = new DirSet();
+        ds.setProject(getProject());
+        ds.setDir(tmp);
+        ds.setIncludes("b/");
+        assertEquals("b;b" + File.separator + "c", ds.toString());
+    }
+
 }