diff --git a/src/lib/format-obj.cpp b/src/lib/format-obj.cpp
index 133991391..bbc84c24e 100644
--- a/src/lib/format-obj.cpp
+++ b/src/lib/format-obj.cpp
@@ -83,8 +83,12 @@ namespace meta {
   
   // pre-allocated failure indicators, which can be returned failsafe.
   
-  extern const std::string FAILURE_INDICATOR = "↯";
-  extern const std::string VOID_INDICATOR    = "void";
+  extern const string FAILURE_INDICATOR = "↯";
+  extern const string VOID_INDICATOR    = "void";
+  extern const string FUNCTION_INDICATOR= "Function";
+  
+  extern const string BOOL_FALSE_STR = "false";
+  extern const string BOOL_TRUE_STR = "true";
   
   
   
@@ -199,6 +203,7 @@ apologies for that."
                                 "|proc::play::"
                                 "|gui::model"
                                 "|gui::ctrl"
+                                "|lumiera::"
                                 , regex::ECMAScript | regex::optimize};
     
     static regex stdAllocator {"(\\w+<(\\w+)), allocator<\\2>\\s*"
@@ -250,6 +255,7 @@ apologies for that."
     removeSuffix (typeStr, "&");
     
     if (isnil (typeStr)) return VOID_INDICATOR;
+    if (')' == typeStr.back()) return FUNCTION_INDICATOR;
     
     auto end = typeStr.end();
     auto beg = typeStr.begin();
@@ -277,19 +283,29 @@ apologies for that."
   
   
   string
-  sanitisedFullTypeName(lib::Literal rawName)
+  sanitisedFullTypeName (lib::Literal rawName)
   {
     return util::sanitise (humanReadableTypeID (rawName));
   }
   
   
+  string
+  sanitisedSymbol (string const& text)
+  {
+    static regex identifierChars {"[A-Za-z]\\w*", regex::ECMAScript | regex::optimize};
+    
+    return regex_replace (text, identifierChars, "$&", std::regex_constants::format_no_copy);
+  }
+  
+  
+  
 }}// namespace lib::meta
 
 
 
 
 
-/* === formatting and pretty printing support uitls === */
+/* === formatting and pretty printing support utils === */
 
 namespace util {
   
diff --git a/src/lib/format-obj.hpp b/src/lib/format-obj.hpp
index 35addbbd4..9e5c803dc 100644
--- a/src/lib/format-obj.hpp
+++ b/src/lib/format-obj.hpp
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ namespace meta {
 namespace util {
   
   std::string showDouble (double) noexcept;
-  std::string showFloat (float)    noexcept;
+  std::string showFloat (float)   noexcept;
   std::string showAddr (void const* addr) noexcept;
   
   /** preconfigured format for pretty-printing of addresses */
@@ -135,6 +135,15 @@ namespace util {
         return util::showFloat (val);
       }
     };
+  template<>
+  struct StringConv<bool>
+    {
+      static std::string
+      invoke (bool val) noexcept
+      {
+        return util::showBool (val);
+      }
+    };
   
   
   
diff --git a/src/lib/meta/util.hpp b/src/lib/meta/util.hpp
index 26e3997b1..8c13b3822 100644
--- a/src/lib/meta/util.hpp
+++ b/src/lib/meta/util.hpp
@@ -199,6 +199,12 @@ namespace meta {
   /** build a sanitised ID from full type name */
   std::string sanitisedFullTypeName(lib::Literal);
   
+  /** condense a string and retain only valid identifiers
+   * @return string starting with letter, followed by
+   *         letters, digits and underscore
+   */
+  std::string sanitisedSymbol(std::string const&);
+  
   /** reverse the effect of C++ name mangling.
    * @return string in language-level form of a C++ type or object name,
    *         or a string with the original input if demangling fails.
@@ -211,9 +217,12 @@ namespace meta {
   std::string demangleCxx (lib::Literal rawName);
   
   
+  extern const std::string FUNCTION_INDICATOR;
   extern const std::string FAILURE_INDICATOR;
   extern const std::string VOID_INDICATOR;
   
+  extern const std::string BOOL_FALSE_STR;
+  extern const std::string BOOL_TRUE_STR;
   
   
   /** failsafe human readable type display
@@ -354,6 +363,16 @@ namespace util {
               : "⟂ «" + typeStr(ptr) + "»";
   }
   
+  /** human readable display of boolean values
+   * @return "`true`" or "`false`"
+   */
+  inline std::string
+  showBool (bool yes)  noexcept
+  {
+    return yes? lib::meta::BOOL_TRUE_STR
+              : lib::meta::BOOL_FALSE_STR;
+  }
+  
   
   
 }// namespace util
diff --git a/src/lib/util.hpp b/src/lib/util.hpp
index ecef0d548..c59675059 100644
--- a/src/lib/util.hpp
+++ b/src/lib/util.hpp
@@ -347,6 +347,7 @@ namespace util {
    "Bääääh!!"                         --> 'Bh'
 \endverbatim
    * @see sanitised-identifier-test.cpp
+   * @see lib::meta::sanitisedSymbol()
    */
   string sanitise (string const& org);
   
diff --git a/tests/library/meta/type-display-test.cpp b/tests/library/meta/type-display-test.cpp
index 73a5a864a..57a3405c4 100644
--- a/tests/library/meta/type-display-test.cpp
+++ b/tests/library/meta/type-display-test.cpp
@@ -112,6 +112,8 @@ namespace test{
           cout << typeSymbol(&magic) <<endl;
           
           cout << typeStr<Outer<typeof(this)>::Inner>() <<endl;
+          cout << sanitisedSymbol("") <<endl;
+          cout << sanitisedSymbol("bääähla7/(6sf*z") <<endl;
         }
     };