pid_to_list() changing value of pid?

I have code like: PID = spawn_link(DistrNode, ...... io:format("~p debug1 ~n",[PID]), io:format("~p debug2 ~n",[pid_to_list(PID)]), and I get like: <10062.97.0> debug1 "<9453.97.0>" debug2 I want grab PID as string but not change value like it did above- what is happening here? I looked convert pid to atom, but no function there. I wanted to get "<10062.97.0>" EDIT it spawn_link() not spawn() this