diff --git a/src/builtin.c b/src/builtin.c
index 06cd213d..0757a86b 100644
--- a/src/builtin.c
+++ b/src/builtin.c
@@ -343,21 +343,10 @@ jv binop_multiply(jv a, jv b) {
       str = b;
       num = a;
     }
-    jv res;
     double d = jv_number_value(num);
-    if (d < 0 || isnan(d)) {
-      res = jv_null();
-    } else {
-      int n = d;
-      size_t alen = jv_string_length_bytes(jv_copy(str));
-      res = jv_string_empty(alen * n);
-      for (; n > 0; n--) {
-        res = jv_string_append_buf(res, jv_string_value(str), alen);
-      }
-    }
-    jv_free(str);
     jv_free(num);
-    return res;
+    return jv_string_repeat(str,
+        d < 0 || isnan(d) ? -1 : d > INT_MAX ? INT_MAX : (int)d);
   } else if (ak == JV_KIND_OBJECT && bk == JV_KIND_OBJECT) {
     return jv_object_merge_recursive(a, b);
   } else {
diff --git a/src/jv.c b/src/jv.c
index 3e9920ed..fd6cfcab 100644
--- a/src/jv.c
+++ b/src/jv.c
@@ -1324,6 +1324,32 @@ jv jv_string_indexes(jv j, jv k) {
   return a;
 }
 
+jv jv_string_repeat(jv j, int n) {
+  assert(JVP_HAS_KIND(j, JV_KIND_STRING));
+  if (n < 0) {
+    jv_free(j);
+    return jv_null();
+  }
+  int len = jv_string_length_bytes(jv_copy(j));
+  int64_t res_len = (int64_t)len * n;
+  if (res_len >= INT_MAX) {
+    jv_free(j);
+    return jv_invalid_with_msg(jv_string("Repeat string result too long"));
+  }
+  if (res_len == 0) {
+    jv_free(j);
+    return jv_string("");
+  }
+  jv res = jv_string_empty(res_len);
+  res = jvp_string_append(res, jv_string_value(j), len);
+  for (int curr = len, grow; curr < res_len; curr += grow) {
+    grow = MIN(res_len - curr, curr);
+    res = jvp_string_append(res, jv_string_value(res), grow);
+  }
+  jv_free(j);
+  return res;
+}
+
 jv jv_string_split(jv j, jv sep) {
   assert(JVP_HAS_KIND(j, JV_KIND_STRING));
   assert(JVP_HAS_KIND(sep, JV_KIND_STRING));
diff --git a/src/jv.h b/src/jv.h
index 5d4197cf..b9710610 100644
--- a/src/jv.h
+++ b/src/jv.h
@@ -136,6 +136,7 @@ jv jv_string_fmt(const char*, ...) JV_PRINTF_LIKE(1, 2);
 jv jv_string_append_codepoint(jv a, uint32_t c);
 jv jv_string_append_buf(jv a, const char* buf, int len);
 jv jv_string_append_str(jv a, const char* str);
+jv jv_string_repeat(jv j, int n);
 jv jv_string_split(jv j, jv sep);
 jv jv_string_explode(jv j);
 jv jv_string_implode(jv j);
diff --git a/tests/jq.test b/tests/jq.test
index 959895c4..2e3c1e8b 100644
--- a/tests/jq.test
+++ b/tests/jq.test
@@ -1460,6 +1460,18 @@ indices("o")
 "abc"
 [null,null]
 
+. * 100000 | [.[:10],.[-10:]]
+"abc"
+["abcabcabca","cabcabcabc"]
+
+. * 1000000000
+""
+""
+
+try (. * 1000000000) catch .
+"abc"
+"Repeat string result too long"
+
 [.[] / ","]
 ["a, bc, def, ghij, jklmn, a,b, c,d, e,f", "a,b,c,d, e,f,g,h"]
 [["a"," bc"," def"," ghij"," jklmn"," a","b"," c","d"," e","f"],["a","b","c","d"," e","f","g","h"]]