diff --git a/test/sharness/lib/test-lib.sh b/test/sharness/lib/test-lib.sh
index 1d6866c48..b9a25ae87 100644
--- a/test/sharness/lib/test-lib.sh
+++ b/test/sharness/lib/test-lib.sh
@@ -344,3 +344,12 @@ generic_stat() {
     esac
     $_STAT "$1"
 }
+
+test_check_peerid() {
+	peeridlen=$(echo "$1" | tr -dC "[:alnum:]" | wc -c | tr -d " ") &&
+	test "$peeridlen" = "46" || {
+		echo "Bad peerid '$1' with len '$peeridlen'"
+		return 1
+	}
+}
+
diff --git a/test/sharness/t0020-init.sh b/test/sharness/t0020-init.sh
index 2a930ea9e..8416502b3 100755
--- a/test/sharness/t0020-init.sh
+++ b/test/sharness/t0020-init.sh
@@ -58,10 +58,6 @@ test_expect_success "ipfs config succeeds" '
 	test_cmp expected_config actual_config
 '
 
-test_check_peerid() {
-	test $(echo "$1" | tr -dC "[:alnum:]" | wc -c | tr -d " ") = "46"
-}
-
 test_expect_success "ipfs peer id looks good" '
 	PEERID=$(ipfs config Identity.PeerID) &&
 	test_check_peerid "$PEERID"
diff --git a/test/sharness/t0060-daemon.sh b/test/sharness/t0060-daemon.sh
index db063d22d..44bb87515 100755
--- a/test/sharness/t0060-daemon.sh
+++ b/test/sharness/t0060-daemon.sh
@@ -33,20 +33,15 @@ test_expect_success "initialization ended" '
 
 # this errors if daemon didnt --init $IPFS_PATH correctly
 test_expect_success "'ipfs config Identity.PeerID' works" '
-  ipfs config Identity.PeerID >config_peerId
+  PEERID=$(ipfs config Identity.PeerID)
 '
 
 test_expect_success "'ipfs swarm addrs local' works" '
   ipfs swarm addrs local >local_addrs
 '
 
-
-# this is lifted straight from t0020-init.sh
 test_expect_success "ipfs peer id looks good" '
-  PEERID=$(cat config_peerId) &&
-  echo $PEERID | tr -dC "[:alnum:]" | wc -c | tr -d " " >actual_id &&
-  echo "46" >expected_id &&
-  test_cmp_repeat_10_sec expected_id actual_id
+  test_check_peerid "$PEERID"
 '
 
 # This is like t0020-init.sh "ipfs init output looks good"
diff --git a/test/sharness/t0062-daemon-api.sh b/test/sharness/t0062-daemon-api.sh
index 9efba6302..db6ca1c27 100755
--- a/test/sharness/t0062-daemon-api.sh
+++ b/test/sharness/t0062-daemon-api.sh
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@ api_unreachable="/ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/1"
 
 test_expect_success "config setup" '
 	api_fromcfg=$(ipfs config Addresses.API) &&
-	peerid=$(ipfs config Identity.PeerID)
+	peerid=$(ipfs config Identity.PeerID) &&
+	test_check_peerid "$peerid"
 '
 
 test_client() {
diff --git a/test/sharness/t0100-name.sh b/test/sharness/t0100-name.sh
index b2ea8f4bc..d782729ca 100755
--- a/test/sharness/t0100-name.sh
+++ b/test/sharness/t0100-name.sh
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ test_init_ipfs
 
 test_expect_success "'ipfs name publish' succeeds" '
 	PEERID=`ipfs id --format="<id>"` &&
+	test_check_peerid "${PEERID}" &&
 	ipfs name publish "/ipfs/$HASH_WELCOME_DOCS" >publish_out
 '
 
@@ -35,6 +36,7 @@ test_expect_success "resolve output looks good" '
 
 test_expect_success "'ipfs name publish' succeeds" '
 	PEERID=`ipfs id --format="<id>"` &&
+	test_check_peerid "${PEERID}" &&
 	ipfs name publish "/ipfs/$HASH_WELCOME_DOCS/help" >publish_out
 '
 
@@ -56,6 +58,7 @@ test_expect_success "resolve output looks good" '
 
 test_expect_success "'ipfs name publish <local-id> <hash>' succeeds" '
 	PEERID=`ipfs id --format="<id>"` &&
+	test_check_peerid "${PEERID}" &&
 	ipfs name publish "${PEERID}" "/ipfs/$HASH_WELCOME_DOCS" >actual_node_id_publish
 '
 
diff --git a/test/sharness/t0110-gateway.sh b/test/sharness/t0110-gateway.sh
index 944137668..c15832088 100755
--- a/test/sharness/t0110-gateway.sh
+++ b/test/sharness/t0110-gateway.sh
@@ -59,8 +59,9 @@ test_expect_success "GET IPFS non existent file returns code expected (404)" '
 
 test_expect_failure "GET IPNS path succeeds" '
   ipfs name publish "$HASH" &&
-  NAME=$(ipfs config Identity.PeerID) &&
-  curl -sfo actual "http://127.0.0.1:$port/ipns/$NAME"
+  PEERID=$(ipfs config Identity.PeerID) &&
+  test_check_peerid "$PEERID" &&
+  curl -sfo actual "http://127.0.0.1:$port/ipns/$PEERID"
 '
 
 test_expect_failure "GET IPNS path output looks good" '