diff --git a/bin/tests/system/conf.sh.common b/bin/tests/system/conf.sh.common
index 9f55b18f32..2f2a904639 100644
--- a/bin/tests/system/conf.sh.common
+++ b/bin/tests/system/conf.sh.common
@@ -337,21 +337,26 @@ rndc_reconfig() {
 # in $1, converting them to a format used by some system tests.
 get_dig_xfer_stats() {
 	LOGFILE="$1"
-	echo "messages=`sed -n "s/^;; XFR size: .*messages \([0-9][0-9]*\).*/\1/p" "${LOGFILE}"`"
-	echo "records=`sed -n "s/^;; XFR size: \([0-9][0-9]*\) records.*/\1/p" "${LOGFILE}"`"
-	echo "bytes=`sed -n "s/^;; XFR size: .*bytes \([0-9][0-9]*\).*/\1/p" "${LOGFILE}"`"
+	sed -n "s/^;; XFR size: .*messages \([0-9][0-9]*\).*/messages=\1/p" "${LOGFILE}"
+	sed -n "s/^;; XFR size: \([0-9][0-9]*\) records.*/records=\1/p" "${LOGFILE}"
+	sed -n "s/^;; XFR size: .*bytes \([0-9][0-9]*\).*/bytes=\1/p" "${LOGFILE}"
 }
 
 # get_named_xfer_stats: from named log file $1, extract transfer
-# statistics for the last transfer for peer $2 and zone $3, converting
+# statistics for the last transfer for peer $2 and zone $3 (from a log
+# message which has to contain the string provided in $4), converting
 # them to a format used by some system tests.
 get_named_xfer_stats() {
 	LOGFILE="$1"
-	PEER="$2"
-	ZONE="$3"
-	echo "messages=`grep "${PEER}" "${LOGFILE}" | sed -n "s/.*${ZONE}.* \([0-9][0-9]*\) messages.*/\1/p" | tail -1`"
-	echo "records=`grep "${PEER}" "${LOGFILE}" | sed -n "s/.*${ZONE}.* \([0-9][0-9]*\) records.*/\1/p" | tail -1`"
-	echo "bytes=`grep "${PEER}" "${LOGFILE}" | sed -n "s/.*${ZONE}.* \([0-9][0-9]*\) bytes.*/\1/p" | tail -1`"
+	PEER="`echo $2 | sed 's/\./\\\\./g'`"
+	ZONE="`echo $3 | sed 's/\./\\\\./g'`"
+	MESSAGE="$4"
+	grep " ${PEER}#.*${MESSAGE}:" "${LOGFILE}" | \
+		sed -n "s/.* '${ZONE}\/.* \([0-9][0-9]*\) messages.*/messages=\1/p" | tail -1
+	grep " ${PEER}#.*${MESSAGE}:" "${LOGFILE}" | \
+		sed -n "s/.* '${ZONE}\/.* \([0-9][0-9]*\) records.*/records=\1/p" | tail -1
+	grep " ${PEER}#.*${MESSAGE}:" "${LOGFILE}" | \
+		sed -n "s/.* '${ZONE}\/.* \([0-9][0-9]*\) bytes.*/bytes=\1/p" | tail -1
 }
 
 # copy_setports - Copy Configuration File and Replace Ports