diff --git a/tools/lib/traceevent/event-parse.c b/tools/lib/traceevent/event-parse.c
index 0362d57..8a5b65d 100644
--- a/tools/lib/traceevent/event-parse.c
+++ b/tools/lib/traceevent/event-parse.c
@@ -1606,6 +1606,24 @@
 static enum event_type
 process_op(struct event_format *event, struct print_arg *arg, char **tok);
 
+/*
+ * For __print_symbolic() and __print_flags, we need to completely
+ * evaluate the first argument, which defines what to print next.
+ */
+static enum event_type
+process_field_arg(struct event_format *event, struct print_arg *arg, char **tok)
+{
+	enum event_type type;
+
+	type = process_arg(event, arg, tok);
+
+	while (type == EVENT_OP) {
+		type = process_op(event, arg, tok);
+	}
+
+	return type;
+}
+
 static enum event_type
 process_cond(struct event_format *event, struct print_arg *top, char **tok)
 {
@@ -2371,7 +2389,7 @@
 		goto out_free;
 	}
 
-	type = process_arg(event, field, &token);
+	type = process_field_arg(event, field, &token);
 
 	/* Handle operations in the first argument */
 	while (type == EVENT_OP)
@@ -2424,7 +2442,8 @@
 		goto out_free;
 	}
 
-	type = process_arg(event, field, &token);
+	type = process_field_arg(event, field, &token);
+
 	if (test_type_token(type, token, EVENT_DELIM, ","))
 		goto out_free_field;