diff --git a/test/sharness/lib/test-lib.sh b/test/sharness/lib/test-lib.sh
index bc1be0be9..61a0a7665 100644
--- a/test/sharness/lib/test-lib.sh
+++ b/test/sharness/lib/test-lib.sh
@@ -255,3 +255,24 @@ test_kill_ipfs_daemon() {
 		test_kill_repeat_10_sec $IPFS_PID
 	'
 }
+
+test_curl_resp_http_code() {
+	curl -I "$1" >curl_output || {
+		echo "curl error with url: '$1'"
+		echo "curl output was:"
+		cat curl_output
+		return 1
+	}
+	shift &&
+	RESP=$(head -1 curl_output) &&
+	while test "$#" -gt 0
+	do
+		expr "$RESP" : "$1" >/dev/null && return
+		shift
+	done
+	echo "curl response didn't match!"
+	echo "curl response was: '$RESP'"
+	echo "curl output was:"
+	cat curl_output
+	return 1
+}
diff --git a/test/sharness/t0110-gateway.sh b/test/sharness/t0110-gateway.sh
index 4f2c33028..a677ee5ae 100755
--- a/test/sharness/t0110-gateway.sh
+++ b/test/sharness/t0110-gateway.sh
@@ -68,17 +68,11 @@ test_expect_success "GET invalid path errors" '
 '
 
 test_expect_success "GET /webui returns code expected" '
-  curl -I http://127.0.0.1:$apiport/webui >actual &&
-  RESP=$(head -1 actual) &&
-  (expr "$RESP" : "HTTP/1.1 302 Found\s" ||
-   expr "$RESP" : "HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently\s")
+  test_curl_resp_http_code "http://127.0.0.1:$apiport/webui" "HTTP/1.1 302 Found\s" "HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently\s"
 '
 
 test_expect_success "GET /webui/ returns code expected" '
-  curl -I http://127.0.0.1:$apiport/webui/ > actual &&
-  RESP=$(head -1 actual) &&
-  (expr "$RESP" : "HTTP/1.1 302 Found\s" ||
-   expr "$RESP" : "HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently\s")
+  test_curl_resp_http_code "http://127.0.0.1:$apiport/webui/" "HTTP/1.1 302 Found\s" "HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently\s"
 '
 
 test_kill_ipfs_daemon