diff --git a/docs/src/index.md b/docs/src/index.md
index b2434c7..dab1062 100644
--- a/docs/src/index.md
+++ b/docs/src/index.md
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ It currently provides:
 - a vector policy type
 - a wrapper to collect statistics and errors about policies
 
+In addition, it provides the [`showpolicy`](@ref) function for printing policies similar to the way that matrices are printed in the repl.
 
 ```@contents
 ```
diff --git a/docs/src/showpolicy.md b/docs/src/showpolicy.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..35346c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/src/showpolicy.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# Pretty Printing Policies
+
+```@docs
+showpolicy
+```
diff --git a/src/pretty_printing.jl b/src/pretty_printing.jl
index 94f7e89..72ecb08 100644
--- a/src/pretty_printing.jl
+++ b/src/pretty_printing.jl
@@ -28,26 +28,38 @@ end
 function showpolicy(io::IO, mime::MIME"text/plain", slist::AbstractVector, p::Policy; pre::AbstractString=" ")
     S = eltype(slist)
     rows, cols = get(io, :displaysize, displaysize(io))
-    ioc = IOContext(io, :compact => true, :displaysize => (1, cols-length(pre)))
+    rows -= 3 # Yuck! This magic number is also in Base.print_matrix
+    sa_con = IOContext(io, :compact => true)
 
-    if get(io, :limit, false)
-        for s in slist[1:min(rows-1, end)]
-            print(ioc, pre)
-            print_sa(ioc, s, p, S)
-            println(ioc)
-        end
-        if length(slist) == rows
-            print(ioc, pre)
-            print_sa(ioc, last(slist), p, S)
-            println(ioc)
-        elseif length(slist) > rows
-            println(ioc, pre, "…")
-        end
-    else
-        for s in slist
-            print(ioc, pre)
-            print_sa(ioc, s, p, S)
-            println(ioc)
+    if !isempty(slist)
+        if get(io, :limit, false)
+            # print first element without a newline
+            print(io, pre)
+            print_sa(sa_con, first(slist), p, S)
+
+            # print middle elements
+            for s in slist[2:min(rows-1, end)]
+                print(io, '\n', pre)
+                print_sa(sa_con, s, p, S)
+            end
+
+            # print last element or ...
+            if length(slist) == rows
+                print(io, '\n', pre)
+                print_sa(sa_con, last(slist), p, S)
+            elseif length(slist) > rows
+                print(io, '\n', pre, "…")
+            end
+        else
+            # print first element without a newline
+            print(io, pre)
+            print_sa(sa_con, first(slist), p, S)
+
+            # print all other elements
+            for s in slist[2:end]
+                print(io, '\n', pre)
+                print_sa(sa_con, s, p, S)
+            end
         end
     end
 end
@@ -56,14 +68,11 @@ showpolicy(io::IO, m::Union{MDP,AbstractVector}, p::Policy; kwargs...) = showpol
 showpolicy(m::Union{MDP,AbstractVector}, p::Policy; kwargs...) = showpolicy(stdout, m, p; kwargs...)
 
 function print_sa(io::IO, s, p::Policy, S::Type)
-    ds = get(io, :displaysize, displaysize(io))
-    half_ds = (first(ds), div(last(ds)-4, 2))
-    show(IOContext(io, :typeinfo => S, :displaysize => half_ds), s)
+    show(IOContext(io, :typeinfo => S), s)
     print(io, " -> ")
-    action_io = IOContext(io, :displaysize => half_ds)
     try
-        show(action_io, action(p, s))
+        show(io, action(p, s))
     catch ex
-        showerror(action_io, ex)
+        showerror(IOContext(io, :limit=>true), ex)
     end
 end
diff --git a/src/vector.jl b/src/vector.jl
index 6d31bf7..a08e463 100644
--- a/src/vector.jl
+++ b/src/vector.jl
@@ -31,10 +31,12 @@ function solve(s::VectorSolver{A}, mdp::MDP{S,A}) where {S,A}
     return VectorPolicy{S,A}(mdp, s.act)
 end
 
-function Base.show(io::IO, p::VectorPolicy)
+function Base.show(io::IO, mime::MIME"text/plain", p::VectorPolicy)
     summary(io, p)    
-    println(io)
-    showpolicy(io, p.mdp, p)
+    println(io, ':')
+    ds = get(io, :displaysize, displaysize(io))
+    ioc = IOContext(io, :displaysize=>(first(ds)-1, last(ds)))
+    showpolicy(ioc, mime, p.mdp, p)
 end
 
 """
@@ -61,8 +63,10 @@ action(p::ValuePolicy, s) = p.act[argmax(p.value_table[stateindex(p.mdp, s),:])]
 
 actionvalues(p::ValuePolicy, s) = p.value_table[stateindex(p.mdp, s), :]
 
-function Base.show(io::IO, p::ValuePolicy{M}) where M <: MDP
+function Base.show(io::IO, mime::MIME"text/plain", p::ValuePolicy{M}) where M <: MDP
     summary(io, p)
-    println(io)
-    showpolicy(io, p.mdp, p)
+    println(io, ':')
+    ds = get(io, :displaysize, displaysize(io))
+    ioc = IOContext(io, :displaysize=>(first(ds)-1, last(ds)))
+    showpolicy(io, mime, p.mdp, p)
 end
diff --git a/test/test_pretty_printing.jl b/test/test_pretty_printing.jl
index 7633bbe..efc82d3 100644
--- a/test/test_pretty_printing.jl
+++ b/test/test_pretty_printing.jl
@@ -7,10 +7,10 @@ let
 
     p = solve(solver, gw)
 
-    @test sprint(showpolicy, gw, p) == " [1, 1] -> :left\n [2, 1] -> :left\n [1, 2] -> :left\n [2, 2] -> :left\n [-1, -1] -> :left\n"
+    @test sprint(showpolicy, gw, p) == " [1, 1] -> :left\n [2, 1] -> :left\n [1, 2] -> :left\n [2, 2] -> :left\n [-1, -1] -> :left"
 
     iob = IOBuffer()
-    io = IOContext(iob, :limit=>true, :displaysize=>(4, 7))
+    io = IOContext(iob, :limit=>true, :displaysize=>(7, 7))
     showpolicy(io, gw, p, pre="@ ")
-    @test String(take!(iob)) == "@ [1, 1] -> :left\n@ [2, 1] -> :left\n@ [1, 2] -> :left\n@ …\n"
+    @test String(take!(iob)) == "@ [1, 1] -> :left\n@ [2, 1] -> :left\n@ [1, 2] -> :left\n@ …"
 end
diff --git a/test/test_vector_policy.jl b/test/test_vector_policy.jl
index d13cf9e..8df0705 100644
--- a/test/test_vector_policy.jl
+++ b/test/test_vector_policy.jl
@@ -7,7 +7,10 @@ let
 
     p = solve(solver, gw)
 
-    @test string(p) == "VectorPolicy{GridWorldState,Symbol}\n GridWorldState(1, 1, false) -> :left\n GridWorldState(2, 1, false) -> :left\n GridWorldState(1, 2, false) -> :left\n GridWorldState(2, 2, false) -> :left\n GridWorldState(0, 0, true) -> :left\n"
+    io = IOBuffer()
+    d = TextDisplay(io)
+    display(d, p)
+    @test String(take!(io)) == "VectorPolicy{GridWorldState,Symbol}:\n GridWorldState(1, 1, false) -> :left\n GridWorldState(2, 1, false) -> :left\n GridWorldState(1, 2, false) -> :left\n GridWorldState(2, 2, false) -> :left\n GridWorldState(0, 0, true) -> :left"
 
     for s1 in states(gw)
         @test action(p, s1) == GridWorldAction(:left)
@@ -23,5 +26,8 @@ let
         @inferred(action(p3, s2)) isa GridWorldAction
     end
 
-    @test string(p3) == "ValuePolicy{LegacyGridWorld,Array{Float64,2},Symbol}\n GridWorldState(1, 1, false) -> :up\n GridWorldState(2, 1, false) -> :up\n GridWorldState(1, 2, false) -> :up\n GridWorldState(2, 2, false) -> :up\n GridWorldState(0, 0, true) -> :up\n"
+    io = IOBuffer()
+    d = TextDisplay(io)
+    display(d, p3)
+    @test String(take!(io)) == "ValuePolicy{LegacyGridWorld,Array{Float64,2},Symbol}:\n GridWorldState(1, 1, false) -> :up\n GridWorldState(2, 1, false) -> :up\n GridWorldState(1, 2, false) -> :up\n GridWorldState(2, 2, false) -> :up\n GridWorldState(0, 0, true) -> :up"
 end