diff --git a/fish_tests.cpp b/fish_tests.cpp
index 85327cca4..156fdc049 100644
--- a/fish_tests.cpp
+++ b/fish_tests.cpp
@@ -1301,14 +1301,17 @@ static void test_lru(void)
 
    \param in the string to expand
    \param flags the flags to send to expand_string
+   \param ... A zero-terminated parameter list of values to test.
+              After the zero terminator comes one more arg, a string, which is the error
+              message to print if the test fails.
 */
 
-static int expand_test(const wchar_t *in, expand_flags_t flags, ...)
+static bool expand_test(const wchar_t *in, expand_flags_t flags, ...)
 {
     std::vector<completion_t> output;
     va_list va;
     size_t i=0;
-    int res=1;
+    bool res=true;
     wchar_t *arg;
 
     if (expand_string(in, output, flags, NULL))
@@ -1329,25 +1332,41 @@ static int expand_test(const wchar_t *in, expand_flags_t flags, ...)
     {
         if (output.size() == i)
         {
-            res=0;
+            res=false;
             break;
         }
 
         if (output.at(i).completion != arg)
         {
-            res=0;
+            res=false;
             break;
         }
 
         i++;
+
+        if (!res)
+        {
+            // empty the rest of the args
+            while(va_arg(va, wchar_t *) != 0);
+            break;
+        }
     }
-    va_end(va);
-    
+
     if (output.size() != i)
     {
         res = false;
     }
 
+    if (!res)
+    {
+        if ((arg = va_arg(va, wchar_t *)) != 0)
+        {
+            err(arg);
+        }
+    }
+
+    va_end(va);
+
     return res;
 
 }
@@ -1359,30 +1378,20 @@ static void test_expand()
 {
     say(L"Testing parameter expansion");
 
-    if (!expand_test(L"foo", 0, L"foo", 0))
-    {
-        err(L"Strings do not expand to themselves");
-    }
+    expand_test(L"foo", 0, L"foo", 0,
+                L"Strings do not expand to themselves");
 
-    if (!expand_test(L"a{b,c,d}e", 0, L"abe", L"ace", L"ade", 0))
-    {
-        err(L"Bracket expansion is broken");
-    }
+    expand_test(L"a{b,c,d}e", 0, L"abe", L"ace", L"ade", 0,
+                L"Bracket expansion is broken");
 
-    if (!expand_test(L"a*", EXPAND_SKIP_WILDCARDS, L"a*", 0))
-    {
-        err(L"Cannot skip wildcard expansion");
-    }
-    
-    if (!expand_test(L"/bin/l\\0", ACCEPT_INCOMPLETE, 0))
-    {
-        err(L"Failed to handle null escape in expansion");
-    }
+    expand_test(L"a*", EXPAND_SKIP_WILDCARDS, L"a*", 0,
+                L"Cannot skip wildcard expansion");
 
-    if (!expand_test(L"foo\\$bar", EXPAND_SKIP_VARIABLES, L"foo$bar", 0))
-    {
-        err(L"Failed to handle dollar sign in variable-skipping expansion");
-    }
+    expand_test(L"/bin/l\\0", ACCEPT_INCOMPLETE, 0,
+                L"Failed to handle null escape in expansion");
+
+    expand_test(L"foo\\$bar", EXPAND_SKIP_VARIABLES, L"foo$bar", 0,
+                L"Failed to handle dollar sign in variable-skipping expansion");
 
     if (system("mkdir -p /tmp/fish_expand_test/")) err(L"mkdir failed");
     if (system("touch /tmp/fish_expand_test/.foo")) err(L"touch failed");
@@ -1391,42 +1400,40 @@ static void test_expand()
     if (system("touch /tmp/fish_expand_test/--flag2")) err(L"touch failed");
 
     // This is checking that .* does NOT match . and .. (https://github.com/fish-shell/fish-shell/issues/270). But it does have to match literal components (e.g. "./*" has to match the same as "*"
-    if (! expand_test(L"/tmp/fish_expand_test/.*", 0, L"/tmp/fish_expand_test/.foo", 0))
-    {
-        err(L"Expansion not correctly handling dotfiles");
-    }
-    if (! expand_test(L"/tmp/fish_expand_test/./.*", 0, L"/tmp/fish_expand_test/./.foo", 0))
-    {
-        err(L"Expansion not correctly handling literal path components in dotfiles");
-    }
-    if (! expand_test(L"/tmp/fish_expand_test/*flag?", 0, L"/tmp/fish_expand_test/--flag2", L"/tmp/fish_expand_test/-flag1", 0))
-    {
-        err(L"Expansion not correctly handling flag-like files");
-    }
+    expand_test(L"/tmp/fish_expand_test/.*", 0, L"/tmp/fish_expand_test/.foo", 0,
+                L"Expansion not correctly handling dotfiles");
+    expand_test(L"/tmp/fish_expand_test/./.*", 0, L"/tmp/fish_expand_test/./.foo", 0,
+                L"Expansion not correctly handling literal path components in dotfiles");
+    expand_test(L"/tmp/fish_expand_test/*flag?", 0, L"/tmp/fish_expand_test/--flag2", L"/tmp/fish_expand_test/-flag1", 0,
+                L"Expansion not correctly handling flag-like files");
 
     // Verify that flag-like file expansions never expand to flags
     char saved_wd[PATH_MAX + 1] = {};
-    getcwd(saved_wd, sizeof saved_wd);
-    if (chdir("/tmp/fish_expand_test/")) err(L"chdir failed");
-    if (! expand_test(L"*flag?", 0, L"./--flag2", L"./-flag1", 0))
+    if (getcwd(saved_wd, sizeof saved_wd) != NULL && !chdir("/tmp/fish_expand_test/"))
     {
-        err(L"Expansion not correctly handling flag-like files in cwd");
+        expand_test(L"*flag?", 0, L"./--flag2", L"./-flag1", 0,
+                    L"Expansion not correctly handling flag-like files in cwd");
+        expand_test(L"*flag?", EXPAND_NO_SANITIZE_FLAGLIKE_FILES, L"--flag2", L"-flag1", 0,
+                    L"Expansion (no sanitize) not correctly handling flag-like files in cwd");
+
+        // For suffix-only completions, we don't attempt any sanitization
+        expand_test(L"*flag", ACCEPT_INCOMPLETE, L"2", L"1", 0,
+                    L"Expansion (accept incomplete) not correctly handling flag-like files in cwd");
+
+        if (!chdir(saved_wd))
+        {
+            if (system("rm -Rf /tmp/fish_expand_test")) err(L"rm failed");
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            err(L"chdir restoration failed");
+        }
     }
-    if (! expand_test(L"*flag?", EXPAND_NO_SANITIZE_FLAGLIKE_FILES, L"--flag2", L"-flag1", 0))
+    else
     {
-        err(L"Expansion not correctly handling flag-like files in cwd");
+        err(L"chdir failed");
     }
 
-
-    // For suffix-only completions, we don't attempt any sanitization
-    if (! expand_test(L"*flag", ACCEPT_INCOMPLETE, L"2", L"1", 0))
-    {
-        err(L"Expansion not correctly handling flag-like files in cwd");
-    }
-
-    if (chdir(saved_wd)) err(L"chdir restoration failed");
-
-    if (system("rm -Rf /tmp/fish_expand_test")) err(L"rm failed");
 }
 
 static void test_fuzzy_match(void)