diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/irb.rb b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/irb.rb
index 76e7e55696..aa501e7f3e 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/irb.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/irb.rb
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ require 'irb'
 
 class Symbol
   def f
-    Formula.factory(self)
+    Formula.factory(self.to_s)
   end
 end
 class String