diff --git a/include/fmt/format.h b/include/fmt/format.h
--- a/include/fmt/format.h
+++ b/include/fmt/format.h
@@ -2294,17 +2294,17 @@ FMT_CONSTEXPR auto write(OutputIt out, b
                          const format_specs& specs, locale_ref) -> OutputIt {
   return write<Char>(out, s, specs);
 }
 template <typename Char, typename OutputIt>
 FMT_CONSTEXPR auto write(OutputIt out, const Char* s, const format_specs& specs,
                          locale_ref) -> OutputIt {
   if (specs.type() == presentation_type::pointer)
     return write_ptr<Char>(out, bit_cast<uintptr_t>(s), &specs);
-  if (!s) report_error("string pointer is null");
+  if (!s) return write_bytes<Char>(out, "(null)", specs);
   return write<Char>(out, basic_string_view<Char>(s), specs, {});
 }
 
 template <typename Char, typename OutputIt, typename T,
           FMT_ENABLE_IF(is_integral<T>::value &&
                         !std::is_same<T, bool>::value &&
                         !std::is_same<T, Char>::value)>
 FMT_CONSTEXPR auto write(OutputIt out, T value) -> OutputIt {
@@ -3573,18 +3573,17 @@ FMT_CONSTEXPR auto write(OutputIt out, C
   auto it = reserve(out, 1);
   *it++ = value;
   return base_iterator(out, it);
 }
 
 template <typename Char, typename OutputIt>
 FMT_CONSTEXPR20 auto write(OutputIt out, const Char* value) -> OutputIt {
   if (value) return write(out, basic_string_view<Char>(value));
-  report_error("string pointer is null");
-  return out;
+  return write_bytes<Char>(out, "(null)");
 }
 
 template <typename Char, typename OutputIt, typename T,
           FMT_ENABLE_IF(std::is_same<T, void>::value)>
 auto write(OutputIt out, const T* value, const format_specs& specs = {},
            locale_ref = {}) -> OutputIt {
   return write_ptr<Char>(out, bit_cast<uintptr_t>(value), &specs);
 }