diff --git a/base/deprecated.jl b/base/deprecated.jl
index b4524301d20d0..4f6c094501754 100644
--- a/base/deprecated.jl
+++ b/base/deprecated.jl
@@ -1268,6 +1268,10 @@ end
 
 @deprecate blas_set_num_threads BLAS.set_num_threads
 
+@deprecate print_escaped escape_string
+@deprecate print_unescaped unescape_string
+@deprecate print_joined join
+
 # During the 0.5 development cycle, do not add any deprecations below this line
 # To be deprecated in 0.6
 
diff --git a/base/docs/helpdb/Base.jl b/base/docs/helpdb/Base.jl
index 790d8f5c33fda..8aeb00eb6c247 100644
--- a/base/docs/helpdb/Base.jl
+++ b/base/docs/helpdb/Base.jl
@@ -784,12 +784,12 @@ Equivalent to `stat(file).mode`
 filemode
 
 """
-    print_joined(io, items, delim, [last])
+    join(io, items, delim, [last])
 
 Print elements of `items` to `io` with `delim` between them. If `last` is specified, it is
 used as the final delimiter instead of `delim`.
 """
-print_joined
+join(io, items, delim, last)
 
 """
     lfact(x)
@@ -5013,12 +5013,12 @@ process as a worker using TCP/IP sockets for transport.
 init_worker
 
 """
-    print_escaped(io, str::AbstractString, esc::AbstractString)
+    escape_string(io, str::AbstractString, esc::AbstractString)
 
 General escaping of traditional C and Unicode escape sequences, plus any characters in esc
 are also escaped (with a backslash).
 """
-print_escaped
+escape_string(io, str, esc)
 
 """
     typejoin(T, S)
@@ -6669,7 +6669,7 @@ two strings. For example
 
 `strings` can be any iterable over elements `x` which are convertible to strings via `print(io::IOBuffer, x)`.
 """
-join
+join(strings, delim, last)
 
 """
     linreg(x, y) -> a, b
@@ -7138,11 +7138,11 @@ implemented.) Use [`vecnorm`](:func:`vecnorm`) to compute the Frobenius norm.
 norm
 
 """
-    print_unescaped(io, s::AbstractString)
+    unescape_string(io, s::AbstractString)
 
-General unescaping of traditional C and Unicode escape sequences. Reverse of [`print_escaped`](:func:`print_escaped`).
+General unescaping of traditional C and Unicode escape sequences. Reverse of [`escape_string`](:func:`escape_string`).
 """
-print_unescaped
+unescape_string(io, s)
 
 """
     digits!(array, n, [base])
@@ -8678,10 +8678,9 @@ A_ldiv_Bc
 """
     escape_string(str::AbstractString) -> AbstractString
 
-General escaping of traditional C and Unicode escape sequences. See
-[`print_escaped`](:func:`print_escaped`) for more general escaping.
+General escaping of traditional C and Unicode escape sequences.
 """
-escape_string
+escape_string(str)
 
 """
     significand(x)
@@ -9187,9 +9186,9 @@ map!(f,destination,collection...)
     unescape_string(s::AbstractString) -> AbstractString
 
 General unescaping of traditional C and Unicode escape sequences. Reverse of
-[`escape_string`](:func:`escape_string`). See also [`print_unescaped`](:func:`print_unescaped`).
+[`escape_string`](:func:`escape_string`). See also [`unescape_string`](:func:`unescape_string`).
 """
-unescape_string
+unescape_string(s)
 
 """
     redirect_stdout()
diff --git a/base/docs/utils.jl b/base/docs/utils.jl
index 67d2bb860b1ed..41372e93995b2 100644
--- a/base/docs/utils.jl
+++ b/base/docs/utils.jl
@@ -284,7 +284,7 @@ function print_joined_cols(io::IO, ss, delim = "", last = delim; cols = displays
         total += length(ss[i])
         total + max(i-2,0)*length(delim) + (i>1?1:0)*length(last) > cols && (i-=1; break)
     end
-    print_joined(io, ss[1:i], delim, last)
+    join(io, ss[1:i], delim, last)
 end
 
 print_joined_cols(args...; cols = displaysize(STDOUT)[2]) = print_joined_cols(STDOUT, args...; cols=cols)
diff --git a/base/exports.jl b/base/exports.jl
index 86cd581b4d6f7..3d7a953c7a99b 100644
--- a/base/exports.jl
+++ b/base/exports.jl
@@ -847,10 +847,7 @@ export
     oct,
     prevind,
     print,
-    print_escaped,
-    print_joined,
     print_shortest,
-    print_unescaped,
     print_with_color,
     println,
     randstring,
diff --git a/base/markdown/GitHub/table.jl b/base/markdown/GitHub/table.jl
index 46a85bf99eacd..b02d2ecaded51 100644
--- a/base/markdown/GitHub/table.jl
+++ b/base/markdown/GitHub/table.jl
@@ -107,11 +107,11 @@ function plain(io::IO, md::Table)
     padcells!(cells, md.align, len = length, min = 3)
     for i = 1:length(cells) # fixme (iter): can we make indexing more general here?
         print(io, "| ")
-        print_joined(io, cells[i], " | ")
+        join(io, cells[i], " | ")
         println(io, " |")
         if i == 1
             print(io, "|")
-            print_joined(io, [_dash(length(cells[i][j]), md.align[j]) for j = 1:length(cells[1])], "|")
+            join(io, [_dash(length(cells[i][j]), md.align[j]) for j = 1:length(cells[1])], "|")
             println(io, "|")
         end
     end
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ function rst(io::IO, md::Table)
     double = ["="^length(c) for c in cells[1]]
     function print_row(row, row_sep, col_sep)
         print(io, col_sep, row_sep)
-        print_joined(io, row, string(row_sep, col_sep, row_sep))
+        join(io, row, string(row_sep, col_sep, row_sep))
         println(io, row_sep, col_sep)
     end
     print_row(single, '-', '+')
@@ -139,10 +139,10 @@ function term(io::IO, md::Table, columns)
     cells = mapmap(terminline, md.rows)
     padcells!(cells, md.align, len = ansi_length)
     for i = 1:length(cells)
-        print_joined(io, cells[i], " ")
+        join(io, cells[i], " ")
         println(io)
         if i == 1
-            print_joined(io, ["–"^ansi_length(cells[i][j]) for j = 1:length(cells[1])], " ")
+            join(io, ["–"^ansi_length(cells[i][j]) for j = 1:length(cells[1])], " ")
             println(io)
         end
     end
diff --git a/base/methodshow.jl b/base/methodshow.jl
index 2b6409adc6585..44d1a414337c6 100644
--- a/base/methodshow.jl
+++ b/base/methodshow.jl
@@ -105,13 +105,13 @@ function show(io::IO, m::Method; kwtype::Nullable{DataType}=Nullable{DataType}()
         show_delim_array(io, tv, '{', ',', '}', false)
     end
     print(io, "(")
-    print_joined(io, [isempty(d[2]) ? d[1] : d[1]*"::"*d[2] for d in decls[2:end]],
+    join(io, [isempty(d[2]) ? d[1] : d[1]*"::"*d[2] for d in decls[2:end]],
                  ", ", ", ")
     if !isnull(kwtype)
         kwargs = kwarg_decl(m.sig, get(kwtype))
         if !isempty(kwargs)
             print(io, "; ")
-            print_joined(io, kwargs, ", ", ", ")
+            join(io, kwargs, ", ", ", ")
         end
     end
     print(io, ")")
@@ -227,13 +227,13 @@ function writemime(io::IO, ::MIME"text/html", m::Method; kwtype::Nullable{DataTy
         print(io,"</i>")
     end
     print(io, "(")
-    print_joined(io, [isempty(d[2]) ? d[1] : d[1]*"::<b>"*d[2]*"</b>"
+    join(io, [isempty(d[2]) ? d[1] : d[1]*"::<b>"*d[2]*"</b>"
                       for d in decls[2:end]], ", ", ", ")
     if !isnull(kwtype)
         kwargs = kwarg_decl(m.sig, get(kwtype))
         if !isempty(kwargs)
             print(io, "; <i>")
-            print_joined(io, kwargs, ", ", ", ")
+            join(io, kwargs, ", ", ", ")
             print(io, "</i>")
         end
     end
diff --git a/base/pkg/types.jl b/base/pkg/types.jl
index afd6e02929148..152b3e5af0c24 100644
--- a/base/pkg/types.jl
+++ b/base/pkg/types.jl
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ function VersionSet(versions::Vector{VersionNumber})
 end
 VersionSet(versions::VersionNumber...) = VersionSet(VersionNumber[versions...])
 
-show(io::IO, s::VersionSet) = print_joined(io, s.intervals, " ∪ ")
+show(io::IO, s::VersionSet) = join(io, s.intervals, " ∪ ")
 isempty(s::VersionSet) = all(i->isempty(i), s.intervals)
 in(v::VersionNumber, s::VersionSet) = any(i->in(v,i), s.intervals)
 function intersect(A::VersionSet, B::VersionSet)
diff --git a/base/precompile.jl b/base/precompile.jl
index b70c331c18f0e..eb8b01b30b7de 100644
--- a/base/precompile.jl
+++ b/base/precompile.jl
@@ -303,11 +303,11 @@ precompile(Base.print, (IOBuffer, String))
 precompile(Base.print, (IOBuffer, VersionNumber))
 precompile(Base.print, (IOStream, Int32))
 precompile(Base.print, (IOStream,String))
-precompile(Base.print_joined, (IOBuffer, Tuple{String}, Char))
-precompile(Base.print_joined, (IOBuffer, Tuple{Int}, Char))
-precompile(Base.print_joined, (IOBuffer, Array{String,1}, Char))
-precompile(Base.print_joined, (IOBuffer, Array{AbstractString,1}, String))
-precompile(Base.print_joined, (IOBuffer, Array{SubString{String}, 1}, String))
+precompile(Base.join, (IOBuffer, Tuple{String}, Char))
+precompile(Base.join, (IOBuffer, Tuple{Int}, Char))
+precompile(Base.join, (IOBuffer, Array{String,1}, Char))
+precompile(Base.join, (IOBuffer, Array{AbstractString,1}, String))
+precompile(Base.join, (IOBuffer, Array{SubString{String}, 1}, String))
 precompile(Base.println, (Base.TTY,))
 precompile(Base.println, (Base.Terminals.TTYTerminal,))
 precompile(Base.promote_type, (Type{Base.LineEdit.Prompt}, Type{Base.LineEdit.HistoryPrompt{Base.REPL.REPLHistoryProvider}}))
@@ -452,7 +452,7 @@ precompile(==, (Base.RemoteChannel, WeakRef))
 precompile(==, (Base.RemoteChannel, Base.RemoteChannel))
 precompile(Base.send_del_client, (Base.RemoteChannel,))
 precompile(!=, (Base.SubString{String}, String))
-precompile(Base.print_joined, (Base.IOBuffer, Array{Base.SubString{String}, 1}, String))
+precompile(Base.join, (Base.IOBuffer, Array{Base.SubString{String}, 1}, String))
 precompile(Base.joinpath, (String, String, String, String))
 precompile(Base.string, (String, String, Char))
 precompile(Base.string, (String, String, Int))
diff --git a/base/replutil.jl b/base/replutil.jl
index 6cef41b054f29..1074990af5bce 100644
--- a/base/replutil.jl
+++ b/base/replutil.jl
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ function showerror(io::IO, ex::BoundsError)
             if isa(ex.i, Range)
                 print(io, ex.i)
             else
-                print_joined(io, ex.i, ',')
+                join(io, ex.i, ',')
             end
             print(io, ']')
         end
diff --git a/base/show.jl b/base/show.jl
index 520b81362bda7..7cdffeec538fb 100644
--- a/base/show.jl
+++ b/base/show.jl
@@ -891,7 +891,7 @@ function show_unquoted(io::IO, ex::Expr, indent::Int, prec::Int)
                 end
                 print(io, ")")
             else
-                print_escaped(io, x, "\"\$")
+                escape_string(io, x, "\"\$")
             end
         end
         print(io, '"')
diff --git a/base/strings/io.jl b/base/strings/io.jl
index 8b13e360ff47e..4878569dd9dd4 100644
--- a/base/strings/io.jl
+++ b/base/strings/io.jl
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ IOBuffer(str::String) = IOBuffer(str.data)
 IOBuffer(s::SubString{String}) = IOBuffer(sub(s.string.data, s.offset + 1 : s.offset + sizeof(s)))
 
 # join is implemented using IO
-function print_joined(io, strings, delim, last)
+function join(io::IO, strings, delim, last)
     i = start(strings)
     if done(strings,i)
         return
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ function print_joined(io, strings, delim, last)
     end
 end
 
-function print_joined(io, strings, delim)
+function join(io::IO, strings, delim)
     i = start(strings)
     is_done = done(strings,i)
     while !is_done
@@ -124,16 +124,16 @@ function print_joined(io, strings, delim)
         end
     end
 end
-print_joined(io, strings) = print_joined(io, strings, "")
+join(io::IO, strings) = join(io, strings, "")
 
-join(args...) = sprint(print_joined, args...)
+join(args...) = sprint(join, args...)
 
 ## string escaping & unescaping ##
 
 escape_nul(s::AbstractString, i::Int) =
     !done(s,i) && '0' <= next(s,i)[1] <= '7' ? "\\x00" : "\\0"
 
-function print_escaped(io, s::AbstractString, esc::AbstractString)
+function escape_string(io, s::AbstractString, esc::AbstractString)
     i = start(s)
     while !done(s,i)
         c, j = next(s,i)
@@ -150,10 +150,10 @@ function print_escaped(io, s::AbstractString, esc::AbstractString)
     end
 end
 
-escape_string(s::AbstractString) = sprint(endof(s), print_escaped, s, "\"")
+escape_string(s::AbstractString) = sprint(endof(s), escape_string, s, "\"")
 function print_quoted(io, s::AbstractString)
     print(io, '"')
-    print_escaped(io, s, "\"\$") #"# work around syntax highlighting problem
+    escape_string(io, s, "\"\$") #"# work around syntax highlighting problem
     print(io, '"')
 end
 
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ unescape_chars(s::AbstractString, esc::AbstractString) =
 
 # general unescaping of traditional C and Unicode escape sequences
 
-function print_unescaped(io, s::AbstractString)
+function unescape_string(io, s::AbstractString)
     i = start(s)
     while !done(s,i)
         c, i = next(s,i)
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ function print_unescaped(io, s::AbstractString)
     end
 end
 
-unescape_string(s::AbstractString) = sprint(endof(s), print_unescaped, s)
+unescape_string(s::AbstractString) = sprint(endof(s), unescape_string, s)
 
 macro b_str(s); :($(unescape_string(s)).data); end
 
diff --git a/base/version.jl b/base/version.jl
index e9724d6157223..024a034f0dd42 100644
--- a/base/version.jl
+++ b/base/version.jl
@@ -54,11 +54,11 @@ function print(io::IO, v::VersionNumber)
     print(io, v.patch)
     if !isempty(v.prerelease)
         print(io, '-')
-        print_joined(io, v.prerelease,'.')
+        join(io, v.prerelease,'.')
     end
     if !isempty(v.build)
         print(io, '+')
-        print_joined(io, v.build,'.')
+        join(io, v.build,'.')
     end
 end
 show(io::IO, v::VersionNumber) = print(io, "v\"", v, "\"")
diff --git a/doc/stdlib/io-network.rst b/doc/stdlib/io-network.rst
index f479e75294d77..72a3ebdcabe13 100644
--- a/doc/stdlib/io-network.rst
+++ b/doc/stdlib/io-network.rst
@@ -302,19 +302,19 @@ General I/O
 
    Read a value written by ``serialize``\ . ``deserialize`` assumes the binary data read from ``stream`` is correct and has been serialized by a compatible implementation of ``serialize``\ . It has been designed with simplicity and performance as a goal and does not validate the data read. Malformed data can result in process termination. The caller has to ensure the integrity and correctness of data read from ``stream``\ .
 
-.. function:: print_escaped(io, str::AbstractString, esc::AbstractString)
+.. function:: escape_string(io, str::AbstractString, esc::AbstractString)
 
    .. Docstring generated from Julia source
 
    General escaping of traditional C and Unicode escape sequences, plus any characters in esc are also escaped (with a backslash).
 
-.. function:: print_unescaped(io, s::AbstractString)
+.. function:: unescape_string(io, s::AbstractString)
 
    .. Docstring generated from Julia source
 
-   General unescaping of traditional C and Unicode escape sequences. Reverse of :func:`print_escaped`\ .
+   General unescaping of traditional C and Unicode escape sequences. Reverse of :func:`escape_string`\ .
 
-.. function:: print_joined(io, items, delim, [last])
+.. function:: join(io, items, delim, [last])
 
    .. Docstring generated from Julia source
 
diff --git a/doc/stdlib/strings.rst b/doc/stdlib/strings.rst
index 145447820ae57..be71d5b7f3de3 100644
--- a/doc/stdlib/strings.rst
+++ b/doc/stdlib/strings.rst
@@ -451,13 +451,13 @@
 
    .. Docstring generated from Julia source
 
-   General escaping of traditional C and Unicode escape sequences. See :func:`print_escaped` for more general escaping.
+   General escaping of traditional C and Unicode escape sequences.
 
 .. function:: unescape_string(s::AbstractString) -> AbstractString
 
    .. Docstring generated from Julia source
 
-   General unescaping of traditional C and Unicode escape sequences. Reverse of :func:`escape_string`\ . See also :func:`print_unescaped`\ .
+   General unescaping of traditional C and Unicode escape sequences. Reverse of :func:`escape_string`\ . See also :func:`unescape_string`\ .
 
 .. function:: utf16(s)
 
diff --git a/test/strings/io.jl b/test/strings/io.jl
index 6ef38d97b5bee..a07662d1098f2 100644
--- a/test/strings/io.jl
+++ b/test/strings/io.jl
@@ -228,15 +228,15 @@ Base.next(jt::i9178, n) = (jt.nnext += 1 ; ("$(jt.nnext),$(jt.ndone)", n+1))
 arr = ["a","b","c"]
 @test "[$(join(arr, " - "))]" == "[a - b - c]"
 
-# print_joined with empty input
+# join with empty input
 myio = IOBuffer()
-print_joined(myio, "", "", 1)
+join(myio, "", "", 1)
 @test isempty(takebuf_array(myio))
 
 # unescape_chars
 @test Base.unescape_chars("\\t","t") == "t"
-@test_throws ArgumentError print_unescaped(IOBuffer(), string('\\',"xZ"))
-@test_throws ArgumentError print_unescaped(IOBuffer(), string('\\',"777"))
+@test_throws ArgumentError unescape_string(IOBuffer(), string('\\',"xZ"))
+@test_throws ArgumentError unescape_string(IOBuffer(), string('\\',"777"))
 
 # 11659
 # The indentation code was not correctly counting tab stops