diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/OpImplementation.h b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/OpImplementation.h
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/OpImplementation.h
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/OpImplementation.h
@@ -327,6 +327,11 @@
   using AsmPrinter::AsmPrinter;
   ~OpAsmPrinter() override;
 
+  /// Print a loc(...) specifier if printing debug info is enabled. Locations
+  /// may be deferred with an alias.
+  virtual void printOptionalLocationSpecifier(Location loc,
+                                              bool allowAlias = true) = 0;
+
   /// Print a newline and indent the printer to the start of the current
   /// operation.
   virtual void printNewline() = 0;
diff --git a/mlir/lib/IR/AsmPrinter.cpp b/mlir/lib/IR/AsmPrinter.cpp
--- a/mlir/lib/IR/AsmPrinter.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/IR/AsmPrinter.cpp
@@ -564,6 +564,7 @@
   void printAffineMapOfSSAIds(AffineMapAttr, ValueRange) override {}
   void printAffineExprOfSSAIds(AffineExpr, ValueRange, ValueRange) override {}
   void printNewline() override {}
+  void printOptionalLocationSpecifier(Location loc, bool allowAlias) override {}
   void printOperand(Value) override {}
   void printOperand(Value, raw_ostream &os) override {
     // Users expect the output string to have at least the prefixed % to signal
@@ -2682,6 +2683,12 @@
   // OpAsmPrinter methods
   //===--------------------------------------------------------------------===//
 
+  /// Print a loc(...) specifier if printing debug info is enabled. Locations
+  /// may be deferred with an alias.
+  void printOptionalLocationSpecifier(Location loc, bool allowAlias) override {
+    printTrailingLocation(loc, allowAlias);
+  }
+
   /// Print a newline and indent the printer to the start of the current
   /// operation.
   void printNewline() override {
diff --git a/mlir/test/IR/locations.mlir b/mlir/test/IR/locations.mlir
--- a/mlir/test/IR/locations.mlir
+++ b/mlir/test/IR/locations.mlir
@@ -82,3 +82,10 @@
 
 // CHECK-ALIAS: #[[LOC]] = loc("out_of_line_location")
 #loc = loc("out_of_line_location")
+
+// CHECK-LABEL: @optional_location_specifier
+// CHECK: test.attr_with_loc("foo" loc("foo_loc"))
+func.func @optional_location_specifier() {
+  test.attr_with_loc("foo" loc("foo_loc"))
+  return
+}
diff --git a/mlir/test/lib/Dialect/Test/TestDialect.cpp b/mlir/test/lib/Dialect/Test/TestDialect.cpp
--- a/mlir/test/lib/Dialect/Test/TestDialect.cpp
+++ b/mlir/test/lib/Dialect/Test/TestDialect.cpp
@@ -1030,6 +1030,26 @@
   }
 }
 
+//===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
+// TestAttrWithLoc - parse/printOptionalLocationSpecifier
+//===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
+
+static ParseResult parseOptionalLoc(OpAsmParser &p, Attribute &loc) {
+  Optional<Location> result;
+  Location sourceLoc = p.getEncodedSourceLoc(p.getCurrentLocation());
+  if (p.parseOptionalLocationSpecifier(result))
+    return failure();
+  if (result)
+    loc = *result;
+  else
+    loc = sourceLoc;
+  return success();
+}
+
+static void printOptionalLoc(OpAsmPrinter &p, Operation *op, Attribute loc) {
+  p.printOptionalLocationSpecifier(loc.cast<LocationAttr>());
+}
+
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
 // Test removing op with inner ops.
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
diff --git a/mlir/test/lib/Dialect/Test/TestOps.td b/mlir/test/lib/Dialect/Test/TestOps.td
--- a/mlir/test/lib/Dialect/Test/TestOps.td
+++ b/mlir/test/lib/Dialect/Test/TestOps.td
@@ -1911,6 +1911,12 @@
   let hasCustomAssemblyFormat = 1;
 }
 
+def TestAttrWithLoc : TEST_Op<"attr_with_loc"> {
+  let summary = "op's attribute has a location";
+  let arguments = (ins AnyAttr:$loc, AnyAttr:$value);
+  let assemblyFormat = "`(` $value `` custom<OptionalLoc>($loc) `)` attr-dict";
+}
+
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
 // Test OpAsmInterface.