diff --git a/t/t0008-ignores.sh b/t/t0008-ignores.sh
index 89544dd833..43aa2bd8f8 100755
--- a/t/t0008-ignores.sh
+++ b/t/t0008-ignores.sh
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ expect_from_stdin () {
 test_stderr () {
 	expected="$1"
 	expect_in stderr "$1" &&
-	test_cmp "$HOME/expected-stderr" "$HOME/stderr"
+	test_i18ncmp "$HOME/expected-stderr" "$HOME/stderr"
 }
 
 broken_c_unquote () {
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ broken_c_unquote_verbose () {
 
 stderr_contains () {
 	regexp="$1"
-	if grep "$regexp" "$HOME/stderr"
+	if test_i18ngrep "$regexp" "$HOME/stderr"
 	then
 		return 0
 	else
diff --git a/t/t1300-repo-config.sh b/t/t1300-repo-config.sh
index d934a24417..923bfc5a26 100755
--- a/t/t1300-repo-config.sh
+++ b/t/t1300-repo-config.sh
@@ -886,7 +886,7 @@ test_expect_success !MINGW 'get --path copes with unset $HOME' '
 		git config --get --path path.normal >>result &&
 		git config --get --path path.trailingtilde >>result
 	) &&
-	grep "[Ff]ailed to expand.*~/" msg &&
+	test_i18ngrep "[Ff]ailed to expand.*~/" msg &&
 	test_cmp expect result
 '
 
@@ -1126,7 +1126,7 @@ test_expect_success 'barf on syntax error' '
 	key garbage
 	EOF
 	test_must_fail git config --get section.key >actual 2>error &&
-	grep " line 3 " error
+	test_i18ngrep " line 3 " error
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'barf on incomplete section header' '
@@ -1136,7 +1136,7 @@ test_expect_success 'barf on incomplete section header' '
 	key = value
 	EOF
 	test_must_fail git config --get section.key >actual 2>error &&
-	grep " line 2 " error
+	test_i18ngrep " line 2 " error
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'barf on incomplete string' '
@@ -1146,7 +1146,7 @@ test_expect_success 'barf on incomplete string' '
 	key = "value string
 	EOF
 	test_must_fail git config --get section.key >actual 2>error &&
-	grep " line 3 " error
+	test_i18ngrep " line 3 " error
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'urlmatch' '
diff --git a/t/t1307-config-blob.sh b/t/t1307-config-blob.sh
index 3c6791e6be..eed31ffa30 100755
--- a/t/t1307-config-blob.sh
+++ b/t/t1307-config-blob.sh
@@ -61,10 +61,7 @@ test_expect_success 'parse errors in blobs are properly attributed' '
 	git commit -m broken &&
 
 	test_must_fail git config --blob=HEAD:config some.value 2>err &&
-
-	# just grep for our token as the exact error message is likely to
-	# change or be internationalized
-	grep "HEAD:config" err
+	test_i18ngrep "HEAD:config" err
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'can parse blob ending with CR' '
diff --git a/t/t1308-config-set.sh b/t/t1308-config-set.sh
index 005d66dbef..cd6206351f 100755
--- a/t/t1308-config-set.sh
+++ b/t/t1308-config-set.sh
@@ -197,14 +197,14 @@ test_expect_success 'proper error on error in default config files' '
 	echo "[" >>.git/config &&
 	echo "fatal: bad config line 34 in file .git/config" >expect &&
 	test_expect_code 128 test-config get_value foo.bar 2>actual &&
-	test_cmp expect actual
+	test_i18ncmp expect actual
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'proper error on error in custom config files' '
 	echo "[" >>syntax-error &&
 	echo "fatal: bad config line 1 in file syntax-error" >expect &&
 	test_expect_code 128 test-config configset_get_value foo.bar syntax-error 2>actual &&
-	test_cmp expect actual
+	test_i18ncmp expect actual
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'check line errors for malformed values' '
diff --git a/t/t1400-update-ref.sh b/t/t1400-update-ref.sh
index af1b20dd5c..75fa6548c4 100755
--- a/t/t1400-update-ref.sh
+++ b/t/t1400-update-ref.sh
@@ -361,7 +361,7 @@ test_expect_success 'stdin test setup' '
 
 test_expect_success '-z fails without --stdin' '
 	test_must_fail git update-ref -z $m $m $m 2>err &&
-	grep "usage: git update-ref" err
+	test_i18ngrep "usage: git update-ref" err
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'stdin works with no input' '
diff --git a/t/t2010-checkout-ambiguous.sh b/t/t2010-checkout-ambiguous.sh
index 87bdf9c96b..e76e84afbb 100755
--- a/t/t2010-checkout-ambiguous.sh
+++ b/t/t2010-checkout-ambiguous.sh
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ test_expect_success 'disambiguate checking out from a tree-ish' '
 
 test_expect_success 'accurate error message with more than one ref' '
 	test_must_fail git checkout HEAD master -- 2>actual &&
-	grep 2 actual &&
+	test_i18ngrep 2 actual &&
 	test_i18ngrep "one reference expected, 2 given" actual
 '
 
diff --git a/t/t2018-checkout-branch.sh b/t/t2018-checkout-branch.sh
index 2741262369..2131fb2a56 100755
--- a/t/t2018-checkout-branch.sh
+++ b/t/t2018-checkout-branch.sh
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ test_expect_success 'checkout -b to @{-1} fails with the right branch name' '
 	git checkout branch2 &&
 	echo  >expect "fatal: A branch named '\''branch1'\'' already exists." &&
 	test_must_fail git checkout -b @{-1} 2>actual &&
-	test_cmp expect actual
+	test_i18ncmp expect actual
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'checkout -B to an existing branch resets branch to HEAD' '
diff --git a/t/t3200-branch.sh b/t/t3200-branch.sh
index f3e3b6cf2e..ac9c764799 100755
--- a/t/t3200-branch.sh
+++ b/t/t3200-branch.sh
@@ -550,7 +550,7 @@ If you wanted to make '"'master'"' track '"'origin/master'"', do this:
     git branch -d origin/master
     git branch --set-upstream-to origin/master
 EOF
-	test_cmp expected actual
+	test_i18ncmp expected actual
 '
 
 test_expect_success '--set-upstream with two args only shows the deprecation message' '
@@ -559,7 +559,7 @@ test_expect_success '--set-upstream with two args only shows the deprecation mes
 	cat >expected <<EOF &&
 The --set-upstream flag is deprecated and will be removed. Consider using --track or --set-upstream-to
 EOF
-	test_cmp expected actual
+	test_i18ncmp expected actual
 '
 
 test_expect_success '--set-upstream with one arg only shows the deprecation message if the branch existed' '
@@ -568,7 +568,7 @@ test_expect_success '--set-upstream with one arg only shows the deprecation mess
 	cat >expected <<EOF &&
 The --set-upstream flag is deprecated and will be removed. Consider using --track or --set-upstream-to
 EOF
-	test_cmp expected actual
+	test_i18ncmp expected actual
 '
 
 test_expect_success '--set-upstream-to notices an error to set branch as own upstream' '
diff --git a/t/t3201-branch-contains.sh b/t/t3201-branch-contains.sh
index 912a6635a8..7f3ec47241 100755
--- a/t/t3201-branch-contains.sh
+++ b/t/t3201-branch-contains.sh
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ test_expect_success 'branch --merged with --verbose' '
 	* topic  2c939f4 [ahead 1] foo
 	  zzz    c77a0a9 second on master
 	EOF
-	test_cmp expect actual
+	test_i18ncmp expect actual
 '
 
 test_done
diff --git a/t/t3320-notes-merge-worktrees.sh b/t/t3320-notes-merge-worktrees.sh
index 1f71d589f5..522157b764 100755
--- a/t/t3320-notes-merge-worktrees.sh
+++ b/t/t3320-notes-merge-worktrees.sh
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ test_expect_success 'merge z into y while mid-merge in another workdir fails' '
 		cd worktree &&
 		git config core.notesRef refs/notes/y &&
 		test_must_fail git notes merge z 2>err &&
-		grep "A notes merge into refs/notes/y is already in-progress at" err
+		test_i18ngrep "A notes merge into refs/notes/y is already in-progress at" err
 	) &&
 	test_path_is_missing .git/worktrees/worktree/NOTES_MERGE_REF
 '
diff --git a/t/t5505-remote.sh b/t/t5505-remote.sh
index dd2e6ce34e..8198d8eb05 100755
--- a/t/t5505-remote.sh
+++ b/t/t5505-remote.sh
@@ -1182,7 +1182,7 @@ test_expect_success 'extra args: setup' '
 test_extra_arg () {
 	test_expect_success "extra args: $*" "
 		test_must_fail git remote $* bogus_extra_arg 2>actual &&
-		grep '^usage:' actual
+		test_i18ngrep '^usage:' actual
 	"
 }
 
diff --git a/t/t5510-fetch.sh b/t/t5510-fetch.sh
index 454d896390..88076da1e6 100755
--- a/t/t5510-fetch.sh
+++ b/t/t5510-fetch.sh
@@ -644,7 +644,7 @@ test_expect_success 'fetch --prune prints the remotes url' '
 		git fetch --prune origin 2>&1 | head -n1 >../actual
 	) &&
 	echo "From ${D}/." >expect &&
-	test_cmp expect actual
+	test_i18ncmp expect actual
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'branchname D/F conflict resolved by --prune' '
diff --git a/t/t5523-push-upstream.sh b/t/t5523-push-upstream.sh
index 3683df13a6..4a7b98b478 100755
--- a/t/t5523-push-upstream.sh
+++ b/t/t5523-push-upstream.sh
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ test_expect_success TTY 'progress messages go to tty' '
 	ensure_fresh_upstream &&
 
 	test_terminal git push -u upstream master >out 2>err &&
-	grep "Writing objects" err
+	test_i18ngrep "Writing objects" err
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'progress messages do not go to non-tty' '
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ test_expect_success 'progress messages go to non-tty (forced)' '
 
 	# force progress messages to stderr, even though it is non-tty
 	git push -u --progress upstream master >out 2>err &&
-	grep "Writing objects" err
+	test_i18ngrep "Writing objects" err
 '
 
 test_expect_success TTY 'push -q suppresses progress' '
diff --git a/t/t5536-fetch-conflicts.sh b/t/t5536-fetch-conflicts.sh
index 6c5d3a4ce0..2e42cf3316 100755
--- a/t/t5536-fetch-conflicts.sh
+++ b/t/t5536-fetch-conflicts.sh
@@ -22,8 +22,8 @@ verify_stderr () {
 	cat >expected &&
 	# We're not interested in the error
 	# "fatal: The remote end hung up unexpectedly":
-	grep -E '^(fatal|warning):' <error | grep -v 'hung up' >actual | sort &&
-	test_cmp expected actual
+	test_i18ngrep -E '^(fatal|warning):' <error | grep -v 'hung up' >actual | sort &&
+	test_i18ncmp expected actual
 }
 
 test_expect_success 'setup' '
diff --git a/t/t6301-for-each-ref-errors.sh b/t/t6301-for-each-ref-errors.sh
index cdb67a03b7..c734ce2388 100755
--- a/t/t6301-for-each-ref-errors.sh
+++ b/t/t6301-for-each-ref-errors.sh
@@ -20,8 +20,8 @@ test_expect_success 'Broken refs are reported correctly' '
 	test_when_finished "rm -f .git/$r" &&
 	echo "warning: ignoring broken ref $r" >broken-err &&
 	git for-each-ref >out 2>err &&
-	test_cmp full-list out &&
-	test_cmp broken-err err
+	test_i18ncmp full-list out &&
+	test_i18ncmp broken-err err
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'NULL_SHA1 refs are reported correctly' '
@@ -31,10 +31,10 @@ test_expect_success 'NULL_SHA1 refs are reported correctly' '
 	echo "warning: ignoring broken ref $r" >zeros-err &&
 	git for-each-ref >out 2>err &&
 	test_cmp full-list out &&
-	test_cmp zeros-err err &&
+	test_i18ncmp zeros-err err &&
 	git for-each-ref --format="%(objectname) %(refname)" >brief-out 2>brief-err &&
 	test_cmp brief-list brief-out &&
-	test_cmp zeros-err brief-err
+	test_i18ncmp zeros-err brief-err
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'Missing objects are reported correctly' '
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ test_expect_success 'Missing objects are reported correctly' '
 	test_when_finished "rm -f .git/$r" &&
 	echo "fatal: missing object $MISSING for $r" >missing-err &&
 	test_must_fail git for-each-ref 2>err &&
-	test_cmp missing-err err &&
+	test_i18ncmp missing-err err &&
 	(
 		cat brief-list &&
 		echo "$MISSING $r"
diff --git a/t/t7063-status-untracked-cache.sh b/t/t7063-status-untracked-cache.sh
index a971884cfd..38b3890532 100755
--- a/t/t7063-status-untracked-cache.sh
+++ b/t/t7063-status-untracked-cache.sh
@@ -643,7 +643,7 @@ test_expect_success 'test ident field is working' '
 	cp -R done dthree dtwo four three ../other_worktree &&
 	GIT_WORK_TREE=../other_worktree git status 2>../err &&
 	echo "warning: Untracked cache is disabled on this system or location." >../expect &&
-	test_cmp ../expect ../err
+	test_i18ncmp ../expect ../err
 '
 
 test_done
diff --git a/t/t7102-reset.sh b/t/t7102-reset.sh
index 98bcfe21aa..86f23be34a 100755
--- a/t/t7102-reset.sh
+++ b/t/t7102-reset.sh
@@ -66,14 +66,14 @@ test_expect_success 'reset --hard message' '
 	hex=$(git log -1 --format="%h") &&
 	git reset --hard > .actual &&
 	echo HEAD is now at $hex $(commit_msg) > .expected &&
-	test_cmp .expected .actual
+	test_i18ncmp .expected .actual
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'reset --hard message (ISO8859-1 logoutputencoding)' '
 	hex=$(git log -1 --format="%h") &&
 	git -c "i18n.logOutputEncoding=$test_encoding" reset --hard > .actual &&
 	echo HEAD is now at $hex $(commit_msg $test_encoding) > .expected &&
-	test_cmp .expected .actual
+	test_i18ncmp .expected .actual
 '
 
 >.diff_expect
diff --git a/t/t7400-submodule-basic.sh b/t/t7400-submodule-basic.sh
index 3570f7bb8c..b77cce8e40 100755
--- a/t/t7400-submodule-basic.sh
+++ b/t/t7400-submodule-basic.sh
@@ -942,7 +942,7 @@ test_expect_success 'submodule deinit from subdirectory' '
 		cd sub &&
 		git submodule deinit ../init >../output
 	) &&
-	grep "\\.\\./init" output &&
+	test_i18ngrep "\\.\\./init" output &&
 	test -z "$(git config --get-regexp "submodule\.example\.")" &&
 	test -n "$(git config --get-regexp "submodule\.example2\.")" &&
 	test -f example2/.git &&
diff --git a/t/t7403-submodule-sync.sh b/t/t7403-submodule-sync.sh
index 79bc135bf6..b8690b1932 100755
--- a/t/t7403-submodule-sync.sh
+++ b/t/t7403-submodule-sync.sh
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ test_expect_success '"git submodule sync" should update submodule URLs - subdire
 		cd sub &&
 		git submodule sync >../../output
 	) &&
-	grep "\\.\\./submodule" output &&
+	test_i18ngrep "\\.\\./submodule" output &&
 	test -d "$(
 		cd super-clone/submodule &&
 		git config remote.origin.url
@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@ test_expect_success '"git submodule sync --recursive" should update all submodul
 		cd sub &&
 		git submodule sync --recursive >../../output
 	) &&
-	grep "\\.\\./submodule/sub-submodule" output &&
+	test_i18ngrep "\\.\\./submodule/sub-submodule" output &&
 	test -d "$(
 		cd super-clone/submodule &&
 		git config remote.origin.url
diff --git a/t/t7406-submodule-update.sh b/t/t7406-submodule-update.sh
index 5f278799d5..88e9750abb 100755
--- a/t/t7406-submodule-update.sh
+++ b/t/t7406-submodule-update.sh
@@ -136,8 +136,8 @@ test_expect_success 'submodule update --init --recursive from subdirectory' '
 	 cd tmp &&
 	 git submodule update --init --recursive ../super >../../actual 2>../../actual2
 	) &&
-	test_cmp expect actual &&
-	test_cmp expect2 actual2
+	test_i18ncmp expect actual &&
+	test_i18ncmp expect2 actual2
 '
 
 apos="'";
@@ -370,7 +370,7 @@ test_expect_success 'submodule update - command in .git/config catches failure'
 	(cd super &&
 	 test_must_fail git submodule update submodule 2>../actual
 	) &&
-	test_cmp actual expect
+	test_i18ncmp actual expect
 '
 
 cat << EOF >expect
@@ -388,7 +388,7 @@ test_expect_success 'submodule update - command in .git/config catches failure -
 	 mkdir tmp && cd tmp &&
 	 test_must_fail git submodule update ../submodule 2>../../actual
 	) &&
-	test_cmp actual expect
+	test_i18ncmp actual expect
 '
 
 cat << EOF >expect
@@ -408,7 +408,7 @@ test_expect_success 'recursive submodule update - command in .git/config catches
 	 mkdir -p tmp && cd tmp &&
 	 test_must_fail git submodule update --recursive ../super 2>../../actual
 	) &&
-	test_cmp actual expect
+	test_i18ncmp actual expect
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'submodule init does not copy command into .git/config' '
diff --git a/t/t7508-status.sh b/t/t7508-status.sh
index c3ed7cb51c..b3bdd162aa 100755
--- a/t/t7508-status.sh
+++ b/t/t7508-status.sh
@@ -1377,7 +1377,7 @@ EOF
 	git config --add -f .gitmodules submodule.subname.ignore all &&
 	git config --add -f .gitmodules submodule.subname.path sm &&
 	git status > output &&
-	test_cmp expect output &&
+	test_i18ncmp expect output &&
 	git config -f .gitmodules  --remove-section submodule.subname
 '
 
@@ -1387,7 +1387,7 @@ test_expect_success '.git/config ignore=all suppresses unstaged submodule summar
 	git config --add submodule.subname.ignore all &&
 	git config --add submodule.subname.path sm &&
 	git status > output &&
-	test_cmp expect output &&
+	test_i18ncmp expect output &&
 	git config --remove-section submodule.subname &&
 	git config -f .gitmodules  --remove-section submodule.subname
 '