diff --git a/lib/sys.js b/lib/sys.js
index 7bf582d88d..d37eab2799 100644
--- a/lib/sys.js
+++ b/lib/sys.js
@@ -182,7 +182,13 @@ exports.inspect = function (obj, showHidden, depth) {
   return format(obj, (typeof depth === 'undefined' ? 2 : depth));
 };
 
+var pWarning;
+
 exports.p = function () {
+  if (!pWarning) {
+    pWarning = "sys.p will be removed in future versions of Node. Use sys.puts(sys.inspect()) instead.\n";
+    exports.error(pWarning);
+  }
   for (var i = 0, len = arguments.length; i < len; ++i) {
     error(exports.inspect(arguments[i]));
   }