diff --git a/run-tests.php b/run-tests.php
index 54a12a177d043..dc88ddffedf71 100755
--- a/run-tests.php
+++ b/run-tests.php
@@ -1289,16 +1289,20 @@ function run_test($php, $file, $env)
 				unset($section_text['FILEEOF']);
 			}
 
-			if (@count($section_text['FILE_EXTERNAL']) == 1) {
-				// don't allow tests to retrieve files from anywhere but this subdirectory
-				$section_text['FILE_EXTERNAL'] = dirname($file) . '/' . trim(str_replace('..', '', $section_text['FILE_EXTERNAL']));
+			foreach (array( 'FILE', 'EXPECT', 'EXPECTF', 'EXPECTREGEX' ) as $prefix) {            
+				$key = $prefix . '_EXTERNAL';
 
-				if (file_exists($section_text['FILE_EXTERNAL'])) {
-					$section_text['FILE'] = file_get_contents($section_text['FILE_EXTERNAL'], FILE_BINARY);
-					unset($section_text['FILE_EXTERNAL']);
-				} else {
-					$bork_info = "could not load --FILE_EXTERNAL-- " . dirname($file) . '/' . trim($section_text['FILE_EXTERNAL']);
-					$borked = true;
+				if (@count($section_text[$key]) == 1) {
+					// don't allow tests to retrieve files from anywhere but this subdirectory
+					$section_text[$key] = dirname($file) . '/' . trim(str_replace('..', '', $section_text[$key]));
+
+					if (file_exists($section_text[$key])) {
+						$section_text[$prefix] = file_get_contents($section_text[$key], FILE_BINARY);
+						unset($section_text[$key]);
+					} else {
+						$bork_info = "could not load --" . $key . "-- " . dirname($file) . '/' . trim($section_text[$key]);
+						$borked = true;
+					}
 				}
 			}
 
diff --git a/tests/run-test/test011.phpt b/tests/run-test/test011.phpt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..17f1f7aee6c9e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/run-test/test011.phpt
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+--TEST--
+EXPECT_EXTERNAL
+--FILE--
+abc
+--EXPECT_EXTERNAL--
+test011.txt
diff --git a/tests/run-test/test011.txt b/tests/run-test/test011.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..8baef1b4abc47
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/run-test/test011.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+abc
diff --git a/tests/run-test/test012.phpt b/tests/run-test/test012.phpt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..8213aa2a5610e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/run-test/test012.phpt
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+--TEST--
+EXPECTF_EXTERNAL
+--FILE--
+123
+-123
++123
++1.1
+abc
+0abc
+x
+--EXPECTF_EXTERNAL--
+test012.txt
diff --git a/tests/run-test/test012.txt b/tests/run-test/test012.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..bb293214b1da9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/run-test/test012.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+%d
+%i
+%i
+%f
+%s
+%x
+%c
diff --git a/tests/run-test/test013.phpt b/tests/run-test/test013.phpt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..79ccd20de218c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/run-test/test013.phpt
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+--TEST--
+EXPECTREGEX_EXTERNAL
+--FILE--
+abcde12314235xyz34264768286abcde
+--EXPECTREGEX_EXTERNAL--
+test013.txt
diff --git a/tests/run-test/test013.txt b/tests/run-test/test013.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..6c280ece4d44f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/run-test/test013.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+[abcde]+[0-5]*xyz[2-8]+abcde