diff --git a/SWIG/Lib/guile/std_string.i b/SWIG/Lib/guile/std_string.i
index 3272592bd..588976acc 100644
--- a/SWIG/Lib/guile/std_string.i
+++ b/SWIG/Lib/guile/std_string.i
@@ -49,6 +49,16 @@ namespace std {
         }
     }
 
+    %typemap(in) string * (char* tempptr) {
+        if (gh_string_p($input)) {
+            tempptr = SWIG_scm2str($input);
+            $1 = new std::string(tempptr);
+            if (tempptr) SWIG_free(tempptr);
+        } else {
+            SWIG_exception(SWIG_TypeError, "string expected");
+        }
+    }
+
     %typemap(out) string {
         $result = gh_str02scm($1.c_str());
     }
@@ -57,4 +67,22 @@ namespace std {
         $result = gh_str02scm($1->c_str());
     }
 
+    %typemap(out) string * {
+        $result = gh_str02scm($1->c_str());
+    }
+
+    %typemap(varin) string {
+        if (gh_string_p($input)) {
+	    char *tempptr = SWIG_scm2str($input);
+            $1 = std::string(tempptr);
+            if (tempptr) SWIG_free(tempptr);
+        } else {
+            SWIG_exception(SWIG_TypeError, "string expected");
+        }
+    }
+
+    %typemap(varout) string {
+        $result = gh_str02scm($1.c_str());
+    }
+
 }