-test_begin_subtest 'Comparing emacs result to "notmuch search"'
-expected="$(notmuch search '*' | sed -e 's/^thread:[0-9a-f]* //' -e 's/;//' -e 's/xx*/[BLOB]/')
-End of search results."
-output=$(test_emacs '(notmuch-search "*") (notmuch-test-wait) (message (buffer-string))' 2>&1 | sed -e s', *, ,g' -e 's/xx*/[BLOB]/')
-test_expect_equal "$output" "$expected"
+test_begin_subtest "Ensure that emacs doesn't drop results"
+notmuch search '*' > EXPECTED
+sed -i -e 's/^thread:[0-9a-f]* //' -e 's/;//' -e 's/xx*/[BLOB]/' EXPECTED
+echo 'End of search results.' >> EXPECTED
+
+test_emacs '(notmuch-search "*")
+ (notmuch-test-wait)
+ (test-output)'
+sed -i -e s', *, ,g' -e 's/xxx*/[BLOB]/g' OUTPUT
+test_expect_equal_file OUTPUT EXPECTED