diff --git a/tests/FILEFORMAT b/tests/FILEFORMAT
index 8f4a77ebb..91dfba7f3 100644
--- a/tests/FILEFORMAT
+++ b/tests/FILEFORMAT
@@ -14,8 +14,10 @@ specified, that will be checked/used if specified. This document includes all
 the subsections currently supported.
 
 <reply>
-<data>
-data to sent to the client on its request
+<data [nocheck=1]>
+data to sent to the client on its request and later verified that it arrived
+safely. Set the nocheck=1 to prevent the test script to verify the arrival
+of this data.
 </data>
 <datacheck>
 if the data is sent but this is what should be checked afterwards
@@ -30,16 +32,20 @@ reply is sent
 <postcmd>
 special purpose server-command to control its behavior *after* the
 reply is sent
-</oistcmd>
+</postcmd>
 </reply>
 
 <client>
 <name>
 test case description
 </name>
-<command>
+<command [option=no-output]>
 command line to run, there's a bunch of %variables that get replaced
 accordingly. more about them elsewhere
+
+Set 'option=no-output' to prevent the test script to slap on the --output
+argument that directs the output to a file. The --output is also not added if
+the client/stdout section is used.
 </command>
 <file name="log/filename">
 this creates the named file with this content before the test case is run
@@ -59,6 +65,9 @@ changing protocol data such as port numbers or user-agent strings.
 <protocol>
 the protocol dump curl should transmit
 </protocol>
+<stdout>
+This verfies that this data was passed to stdout.
+</stdout>
 <file name="log/filename">
 the file's contents must be identical to this
 </file>