diff --git a/shelltestrunner.cabal b/shelltestrunner.cabal
--- a/shelltestrunner.cabal
+++ b/shelltestrunner.cabal
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 name:           shelltestrunner
-version:        0.5
+version:        0.6
 category:       Testing
 synopsis:       A tool for testing command-line programs.
 description:
  .
  Run a given program through \"shell\" tests specifed by one or more test
- files, each of which can specify: command-line arguments, input, expected
- output, expected stderr output, and expected exit code.  This was
+ files, where each test can specify: command-line arguments, input, expected
+ output, expected stderr output, and/or expected exit code.  This was
  extracted from the hledger project, inspired by the tests in John
  Wiegley's ledger project, and uses test-framework's test runner.
  .
@@ -20,41 +20,40 @@
  .
  Test file format:
  .
+ A test file contains 0 or more shell tests, each of which looks like this: 
+ .
  > # 0 or more comment lines beginning with #
- > -opt1 -opt2 arg1 arg2 # command line args, executable will be prepended
+ > -opt1 -opt2 arg1 arg2 # one line of command line args, executable will be prepended
  > <<<
  > 0 or more lines of input
  > >>> [/regexp/]
  > [..or 0 or more lines of expected output]
  > >>>2 [/regexp/]
  > [..or 0 or more lines of expected error output]
- > >>>= [/regexp/]
- > [..or expected numeric exit code]
+ > >>>= [expected numeric exit code or /regexp/]
  .
  Each expected field can have either a regular expression match
  expression, in which case the test passes if the output is matched, or 0
  or more data lines, in which case the output must match these exactly.  A
- ! preceding a /regexp/ negates the match. The regular expression syntax
+ ! preceding a \/regexp\/ negates the match. The regular expression syntax
  is that supported by the regexpr library.
  .
- Apart from the command line, all fields are optional. Only fields
- specified in the test will be tested, unless you use the
- -i/--implicit-tests flag, which will test for empty stdout, empty stderr,
- or 0 exit code where fields are omitted.
+ Apart from the command line, all fields are optional. Only the fields you
+ specify will be tested, unless you use the -i/--implicit-tests flag,
+ which adds default tests (empty stdout, empty stderr, and 0 exit code)
+ for omitted fields.
  .
  Issues:
  .
- - can't put / in a regexp
- .
  - can't test input/output which does not end with newline
  .
- - option processing is weak
+ - can't use / in regexps
  .
+ - option processing and --help output could be better
+ .
  Wishlist:
  .
  - configurable delimiters
- .
- - multiple tests per file
  .
 license:        GPL
 license-file:   LICENSE
diff --git a/shelltestrunner.hs b/shelltestrunner.hs
--- a/shelltestrunner.hs
+++ b/shelltestrunner.hs
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 import Control.Concurrent.MVar (newEmptyMVar, putMVar, takeMVar)
 import Control.Monad (liftM,when)
 import Data.List (partition, intercalate)
-import Data.Maybe (fromJust,isJust,maybe)
+import Data.Maybe (fromJust,isJust,maybe,isNothing,catMaybes)
 import qualified Test.HUnit (Test)
 import System.Console.ParseArgs hiding (args)
 import System.Environment (withArgs)
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@
 
 
 version :: String
-version = "0.5" -- keep synced with .cabal
+version = "0.6" -- keep synced with .cabal
 
 data ArgId = HelpFlag
            | VersionFlag
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@
 
 type Regex = String
 
-data Matcher = Exact String
+data Matcher = Lines String
              | Numeric String
              | PositiveRegex Regex
              | NegativeRegex Regex
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@
          putStrLn $ "testing executable: " ++ (show $ fromJust $ getArgString args ExecutableArg)
          putStrLn $ "unprocessed options: " ++ show unprocessedopts
          putStrLn $ "test files: " ++ show testfiles
-  shelltests <- mapM (parseShellTest args) testfiles
+  shelltests <- liftM concat $ mapM (parseShellTestFile args) testfiles
   withArgs unprocessedopts $ defaultMain $ concatMap (hUnitTestToTests.shellTestToHUnitTest args) shelltests
 
 printVersion :: IO ()
@@ -116,13 +116,14 @@
 
 -- parsing
 
-parseShellTest :: Args ArgId -> FilePath -> IO ShellTest
-parseShellTest args f = do
-  t <- liftM (either (error.show) id) $ parseFromFile shelltestp f
-  when (args `gotArg` DebugFlag) $ do
-    putStrLn $ "parsing file: " ++ f
-    putStrLn $ "parsed test: " ++ show t
-  return t
+parseShellTestFile :: Args ArgId -> FilePath -> IO [ShellTest]
+parseShellTestFile args f = do
+  when (args `gotArg` DebugFlag) $ putStrLn $ "parsing file: " ++ f
+  ts <- liftM (either (error.show) id) $ parseFromFile (many shelltestp) f
+  let ts' | length ts > 1 = [t{testname=testname t++":"++show n} | (n,t) <- zip ([1..]::[Int]) ts]
+          | otherwise     = ts
+  when (args `gotArg` DebugFlag) $ putStrLn $ "parsed tests: " ++ show ts'
+  return ts'
 
 shelltestp :: Parser ShellTest
 shelltestp = do
@@ -134,6 +135,7 @@
   o <- optionMaybe expectedoutputp
   e <- optionMaybe expectederrorp
   x <- optionMaybe expectedexitcodep
+  when (null c && (isNothing i) && (null $ catMaybes [o,e,x])) $ fail "empty test file"
   return ShellTest{testname=f,commandargs=c,stdin=i,stdoutExpected=o,stderrExpected=e,exitCodeExpected=x}
 
 linep,commentlinep,commandargsp,delimiterp,inputp,whitespacep :: Parser String
@@ -146,25 +148,25 @@
 
 delimiterp = choice [try $ string "<<<", try $ string ">>>", (eof >> return "")]
 
-inputp = string "<<<\n" >> (liftM unlines) (linep `manyTill` (lookAhead delimiterp))
+inputp = string "<<<" >> newline >> (liftM unlines) (linep `manyTill` (lookAhead delimiterp))
 
 expectedoutputp :: Parser Matcher
 expectedoutputp = try $ do
-                    string ">>>" >> optional (char '1')
-                    whitespacep
-                    choice [positiveregexmatcherp, negativeregexmatcherp, datalinesp]
+  string ">>>" >> optional (char '1')
+  whitespacep
+  choice [positiveregexmatcherp, negativeregexmatcherp, linesmatcherp]
 
 expectederrorp :: Parser Matcher
 expectederrorp = try $ do
-                    string ">>>2"
-                    whitespacep
-                    choice [positiveregexmatcherp, negativeregexmatcherp, datalinesp]
+  string ">>>2"
+  whitespacep
+  choice [positiveregexmatcherp, negativeregexmatcherp, linesmatcherp]
 
 expectedexitcodep :: Parser Matcher
 expectedexitcodep = do
-                      string ">>>="
-                      whitespacep
-                      choice [positiveregexmatcherp, negativeregexmatcherp, numericdatalinesp]
+  string ">>>="
+  whitespacep
+  choice [positiveregexmatcherp, negativeregexmatcherp, numericmatcherp]
 
 negativeregexmatcherp :: Parser Matcher
 negativeregexmatcherp = do
@@ -181,18 +183,16 @@
   newline
   return $ PositiveRegex r
 
-datalinesp :: Parser Matcher
-datalinesp = do
+linesmatcherp :: Parser Matcher
+linesmatcherp = do
   whitespacep
   newline
-  (liftM $ Exact . unlines) (linep `manyTill` (lookAhead delimiterp))
+  (liftM $ Lines . unlines) (linep `manyTill` (lookAhead delimiterp))
 
-numericdatalinesp :: Parser Matcher
-numericdatalinesp = do
-  whitespacep
-  newline
-  whitespacep
+numericmatcherp :: Parser Matcher
+numericmatcherp = do
   s <- many1 $ oneOf "0123456789"
+  whitespacep
   newline
   return $ Numeric s
 
@@ -210,9 +210,9 @@
           case (args `gotArg` ImplicitTestsFlag) of
             True  -> (case o_expected of
                        Just m -> Just m
-                       _ -> Just $ Exact ""
+                       _ -> Just $ Lines ""
                     ,case e_expected of Just m -> Just m
-                                        _      -> Just $ Exact  ""
+                                        _      -> Just $ Lines  ""
                     ,case x_expected of Just m -> Just m
                                         _      -> Just $ Numeric "0")
             False -> (o_expected,e_expected,x_expected)
@@ -228,21 +228,27 @@
   e <- newEmptyMVar
   forkIO $ oh `hGetContentsStrictlyAnd` putMVar o
   forkIO $ eh `hGetContentsStrictlyAnd` putMVar e
-  x_actual <- waitForProcess ph
+  x_actual <- waitForProcess ph >>= return.fromExitCode
   o_actual <- takeMVar o
   e_actual <- takeMVar e
 
-  assertString $ addnewline $ intercalate "\n" $ filter (not . null)
-      [if (maybe True (o_actual `matches`) o_expected')
-        then "" 
-        else showExpectedActual "stdout"    (fromJust o_expected') o_actual
-      ,if (maybe True (e_actual `matches`) e_expected')
-        then "" 
-        else showExpectedActual "stderr"    (fromJust e_expected') e_actual
-      ,if (maybe True ((show $ fromExitCode x_actual) `matches`) x_expected')
-        then ""
-        else showExpectedActual "exit code" (fromJust x_expected') (show $ fromExitCode x_actual)
-      ]
+  let failuremsg
+       -- when a bad exe is provided, we don't want to show all the test
+       -- failures. This should work on all posix systems at least.
+       -- Really we should report a test error here, not a failure.
+       | x_actual == 127 = cmd ++ ": command not found"
+       | otherwise = addnewline $ intercalate "\n" $ filter (not . null) [
+                   if (maybe True (o_actual `matches`) o_expected')
+                   then "" 
+                   else showExpectedActual "stdout"    (fromJust o_expected') o_actual
+                  ,if (maybe True (e_actual `matches`) e_expected')
+                   then "" 
+                   else showExpectedActual "stderr"    (fromJust e_expected') e_actual
+                  ,if (maybe True (show x_actual `matches`) x_expected')
+                   then ""
+                   else showExpectedActual "exit code" (fromJust x_expected') (show x_actual)
+                  ]
+  assertString failuremsg
       where addnewline "" = ""
             addnewline s  = "\n"++s
 
@@ -253,7 +259,7 @@
 matches s (PositiveRegex r) = s `containsRegex` r
 matches s (NegativeRegex r) = not $ s `containsRegex` r
 matches s (Numeric p)       = s == p
-matches s (Exact p)         = s == p
+matches s (Lines p)         = s == p
 
 showExpectedActual :: String -> Matcher -> String -> String
 showExpectedActual field e a =
@@ -263,7 +269,7 @@
 showMatcher (PositiveRegex r) = " /"++r++"/\n"
 showMatcher (NegativeRegex r) = " !/"++r++"/\n"
 showMatcher (Numeric s)       = "\n"++s++"\n"
-showMatcher (Exact s)         = "\n"++s
+showMatcher (Lines s)         = "\n"++s
 
 
 -- utils