diff --git a/tests/metadata.test b/tests/metadata.test
index 6bdf97f0e..ca459ce31 100644
--- a/tests/metadata.test
+++ b/tests/metadata.test
@@ -1,16 +1,16 @@
-# we currently should parse and ignore ledger-style metadata attributes
-#
+# 1. we currently parse metadata tags on transactions and postings, printing
+# the former and ignoring the latter
 bin/hledger -f - print
 <<<
 2010/01/01
-    ; txndata1: txn val 1
-   ; txndata2: txn val 2
-    a             1
-    ; posting1data1: posting1 val 1
- ; posting1data2: 
-    b            -1
-    ; posting2data1:
-; posting2nonmetadata:
+  ; txndata1: txn val 1
+  ; txndata2: txn val 2
+  a             1
+  ; posting1data1: posting1 val 1
+  ; posting1data2: 
+  b            -1
+  ; posting2data1:
+; non-metadata:
 >>>
 2010/01/01
     a             1
@@ -19,27 +19,57 @@ bin/hledger -f - print
 >>>2
 >>>=0
 
-bin/hledger -f - print tag key1=value
+# 2. print (and a few other commands) can filter by tag value
+bin/hledger -f - print tag foo=bar
 <<<
 2010/01/01
-  ; key:value
-    a             1
-    b            -1
->>>
->>>2
->>>=0
+  ; foo:bar
+  a             1
+  b            -1
 
-bin/hledger -f - print tag key=value
-<<<
-2010/01/01
-  ; key:value
-    a             1
-    b            -1
+2010/01/02
+  ; foo:baz
+  c             1
+  d            -1
+
+2010/01/03
+    e             1
+    f            -1
 >>>
 2010/01/01
-  ; key:value
+  ; foo:bar
     a             1
     b            -1
 
 >>>2
 >>>=0
+
+# # 3. or tag existence ? not yet
+# bin/hledger -f - print tag foo
+# <<<
+# 2010/01/01
+#   ; foo:bar
+#   a             1
+#   b            -1
+
+# 2010/01/02
+#   ; foo:baz
+#   c             1
+#   d            -1
+
+# 2010/01/03
+#     e             1
+#     f            -1
+# >>>
+# 2010/01/01
+#   ; foo:bar
+#     a             1
+#     b            -1
+
+# 2010/01/02
+#   ; foo:baz
+#     c             1
+#     d            -1
+
+# >>>2
+# >>>=0