diff --git a/tests/misc/printf-surprise b/tests/misc/printf-surprise
index dd3c332bb..3336f12a5 100755
--- a/tests/misc/printf-surprise
+++ b/tests/misc/printf-surprise
@@ -61,9 +61,14 @@ exit=$?
 # Map this longer, and rarer, diagnostic to the common one.
 # printf: cannot perform formatted output: Cannot allocate memory" \
 sed 's/cannot perform .*/write error/' err-msg > k && mv k err-msg
-err_msg=$(cat err-msg)
+err_msg=$(cat err-msg|tr '\n' :)
+
+# By some bug, on Solaris 11 (5.11 snv_86), err_msg ends up
+# containing '1> fifo:printf: write error:'.  Recognize that, too.
+
 case $err_msg in
-  "$prog: write error") diagnostic=y ;;
+  "$prog: write error:") diagnostic=y ;;
+  "1> fifo:$prog: write error:") diagnostic=y ;;
   '') diagnostic=n ;;
   *) diagnostic=unexpected ;;
 esac