diff --git a/include/dwarfs/categorizer.h b/include/dwarfs/categorizer.h
index 543aadbb..f79e497d 100644
--- a/include/dwarfs/categorizer.h
+++ b/include/dwarfs/categorizer.h
@@ -172,6 +172,19 @@ class categorizer_manager {
   std::unique_ptr<impl> impl_;
 };
 
+std::string category_prefix(std::shared_ptr<categorizer_manager> const& mgr,
+                            fragment_category cat);
+std::string category_prefix(std::unique_ptr<categorizer_manager> const& mgr,
+                            fragment_category cat);
+std::string
+category_prefix(categorizer_manager const* mgr, fragment_category cat);
+std::string category_prefix(std::shared_ptr<categorizer_manager> const& mgr,
+                            fragment_category::value_type cat);
+std::string category_prefix(std::unique_ptr<categorizer_manager> const& mgr,
+                            fragment_category::value_type cat);
+std::string category_prefix(categorizer_manager const* mgr,
+                            fragment_category::value_type cat);
+
 class categorizer_info {
  public:
   virtual ~categorizer_info() = default;
diff --git a/src/dwarfs/categorizer.cpp b/src/dwarfs/categorizer.cpp
index 68b0f9cb..324570cf 100644
--- a/src/dwarfs/categorizer.cpp
+++ b/src/dwarfs/categorizer.cpp
@@ -42,6 +42,42 @@ using namespace std::placeholders;
 
 namespace po = boost::program_options;
 
+std::string category_prefix(std::shared_ptr<categorizer_manager> const& mgr,
+                            fragment_category cat) {
+  return category_prefix(mgr.get(), cat);
+}
+
+std::string category_prefix(std::unique_ptr<categorizer_manager> const& mgr,
+                            fragment_category cat) {
+  return category_prefix(mgr.get(), cat);
+}
+
+std::string category_prefix(std::shared_ptr<categorizer_manager> const& mgr,
+                            fragment_category::value_type cat) {
+  return category_prefix(mgr.get(), cat);
+}
+
+std::string category_prefix(std::unique_ptr<categorizer_manager> const& mgr,
+                            fragment_category::value_type cat) {
+  return category_prefix(mgr.get(), cat);
+}
+
+std::string category_prefix(categorizer_manager const* mgr,
+                            fragment_category::value_type cat) {
+  return category_prefix(mgr, fragment_category(cat));
+}
+
+std::string
+category_prefix(categorizer_manager const* mgr, fragment_category cat) {
+  std::string prefix;
+  if (mgr) {
+    prefix = fmt::format(
+        "[{}{}] ", mgr->category_name(cat.value()),
+        cat.has_subcategory() ? fmt::format("/{}", cat.subcategory()) : "");
+  }
+  return prefix;
+}
+
 std::string
 categorizer::category_metadata(std::string_view, fragment_category) const {
   return std::string();
diff --git a/src/dwarfs/fragment_chunkable.cpp b/src/dwarfs/fragment_chunkable.cpp
index e273b4f4..6504973e 100644
--- a/src/dwarfs/fragment_chunkable.cpp
+++ b/src/dwarfs/fragment_chunkable.cpp
@@ -45,13 +45,9 @@ fragment_chunkable::~fragment_chunkable() = default;
 size_t fragment_chunkable::size() const { return frag_.size(); }
 
 std::string fragment_chunkable::description() const {
-  std::string prefix;
-  if (catmgr_) {
-    prefix =
-        fmt::format("{} ", catmgr_->category_name(frag_.category().value()));
-  }
   return fmt::format("{}fragment at offset {} of inode {} [{}] - size: {}",
-                     prefix, offset_, ino_.num(), ino_.any()->name(), size());
+                     category_prefix(catmgr_, frag_.category()), offset_,
+                     ino_.num(), ino_.any()->name(), size());
 }
 
 std::span<uint8_t const> fragment_chunkable::span() const {
diff --git a/src/dwarfs/inode_manager.cpp b/src/dwarfs/inode_manager.cpp
index d8fd66f4..53df64fe 100644
--- a/src/dwarfs/inode_manager.cpp
+++ b/src/dwarfs/inode_manager.cpp
@@ -585,12 +585,7 @@ template <typename LoggerPolicy>
 auto inode_manager_<LoggerPolicy>::ordered_span(fragment_category cat,
                                                 worker_group& wg) const
     -> sortable_inode_span {
-  std::string prefix;
-  if (opts_.categorizer_mgr) {
-    prefix =
-        fmt::format("[{}] ", opts_.categorizer_mgr->category_name(cat.value()));
-  }
-
+  auto prefix = category_prefix(opts_.categorizer_mgr, cat);
   auto opts = opts_.fragment_order.get(cat);
 
   auto span = sortable_span();