diff --git a/scrapy/commands/settings.py b/scrapy/commands/settings.py
index 0e73f4f58..bce4e6086 100644
--- a/scrapy/commands/settings.py
+++ b/scrapy/commands/settings.py
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 from __future__ import print_function
+import json
+
 from scrapy.commands import ScrapyCommand
+from scrapy.settings import BaseSettings
 
 class Command(ScrapyCommand):
 
@@ -28,7 +31,11 @@ class Command(ScrapyCommand):
     def run(self, args, opts):
         settings = self.crawler_process.settings
         if opts.get:
-            print(settings.get(opts.get))
+            s = settings.get(opts.get)
+            if isinstance(s, BaseSettings):
+                print(json.dumps(s.copy_to_dict()))
+            else:
+                print(s)
         elif opts.getbool:
             print(settings.getbool(opts.getbool))
         elif opts.getint:
diff --git a/scrapy/settings/__init__.py b/scrapy/settings/__init__.py
index 342d2585e..7b7808959 100644
--- a/scrapy/settings/__init__.py
+++ b/scrapy/settings/__init__.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import copy
 import warnings
 from collections import MutableMapping
 from importlib import import_module
+from pprint import pformat
 
 from scrapy.utils.deprecate import create_deprecated_class
 from scrapy.exceptions import ScrapyDeprecationWarning
@@ -368,11 +369,31 @@ class BaseSettings(MutableMapping):
     def __len__(self):
         return len(self.attributes)
 
-    def __str__(self):
-        return str(self.attributes)
+    def _to_dict(self):
+        return {k: (v._to_dict() if isinstance(v, BaseSettings) else v)
+                for k, v in six.iteritems(self)}
 
-    def __repr__(self):
-        return "<%s %s>" % (self.__class__.__name__, self.attributes)
+    def copy_to_dict(self):
+        """
+        Make a copy of current settings and convert to a dict.
+
+        This method returns a new dict populated with the same values
+        and their priorities as the current settings.
+
+        Modifications to the returned dict won't be reflected on the original
+        settings.
+
+        This method can be useful for example for printing settings
+        in Scrapy shell.
+        """
+        settings = self.copy()
+        return settings._to_dict()
+
+    def _repr_pretty_(self, p, cycle):
+        if cycle:
+            p.text(repr(self))
+        else:
+            p.text(pformat(self.copy_to_dict()))
 
     @property
     def overrides(self):
diff --git a/tests/test_cmdline/__init__.py b/tests/test_cmdline/__init__.py
index c2de4fbc8..7733e7180 100644
--- a/tests/test_cmdline/__init__.py
+++ b/tests/test_cmdline/__init__.py
@@ -68,4 +68,4 @@ class CmdlineTest(unittest.TestCase):
             settingsstr = settingsstr.replace(char, '"')
         settingsdict = json.loads(settingsstr)
         six.assertCountEqual(self, settingsdict.keys(), EXTENSIONS.keys())
-        self.assertIn('value=200', settingsdict[EXT_PATH])
+        self.assertEquals(200, settingsdict[EXT_PATH])
diff --git a/tests/test_settings/__init__.py b/tests/test_settings/__init__.py
index 44b9b6df3..4acf22cba 100644
--- a/tests/test_settings/__init__.py
+++ b/tests/test_settings/__init__.py
@@ -302,6 +302,21 @@ class BaseSettingsTest(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertListEqual(copy.get('TEST_LIST_OF_LISTS')[0],
                              ['first_one', 'first_two'])
 
+    def test_copy_to_dict(self):
+        s = BaseSettings({'TEST_STRING': 'a string',
+                          'TEST_LIST': [1, 2],
+                          'TEST_BOOLEAN': False,
+                          'TEST_BASE': BaseSettings({1: 1, 2: 2}, 'project'),
+                          'TEST': BaseSettings({1: 10, 3: 30}, 'default'),
+                          'HASNOBASE': BaseSettings({3: 3000}, 'default')})
+        self.assertDictEqual(s.copy_to_dict(),
+                            {'HASNOBASE': {3: 3000},
+                             'TEST': {1: 10, 3: 30},
+                             'TEST_BASE': {1: 1, 2: 2},
+                             'TEST_BOOLEAN': False,
+                             'TEST_LIST': [1, 2],
+                             'TEST_STRING': 'a string'})
+
     def test_freeze(self):
         self.settings.freeze()
         with self.assertRaises(TypeError) as cm:
@@ -343,14 +358,6 @@ class BaseSettingsTest(unittest.TestCase):
             self.assertEqual(self.settings.defaults.get('BAR'), 'foo')
             self.assertIn('BAR', self.settings.defaults)
 
-    def test_repr(self):
-        settings = BaseSettings()
-        self.assertEqual(repr(settings), "<BaseSettings {}>")
-        attr = SettingsAttribute('testval', 15)
-        settings['testkey'] = attr
-        self.assertEqual(repr(settings),
-                         "<BaseSettings {'testkey': %s}>" % repr(attr))
-
 
 class SettingsTest(unittest.TestCase):