diff --git a/t/nqp/19-file-ops.t b/t/nqp/19-file-ops.t
index d6f69204f7..58698ab39c 100644
--- a/t/nqp/19-file-ops.t
+++ b/t/nqp/19-file-ops.t
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 # Test nqp::op file operations.
 
-plan(20);
+plan(40);
 
 ok( nqp::stat('CREDITS', nqp::const::STAT_EXISTS) == 1, 'nqp::stat exists');
 ok( nqp::stat('AARDVARKS', nqp::const::STAT_EXISTS) == 0, 'nqp::stat not exists');
@@ -17,11 +17,12 @@ my $credits := nqp::open('CREDITS', 'r');
 ok( $credits, 'nqp::open for read');
 ok( nqp::tellfh($credits) == 0, 'nqp::tellfh start of file');
 my $line := nqp::readlinefh($credits);
-ok( nqp::chars($line) == nqp::chars($line), 'nqp::readlinefh line to read');
+ok( nqp::chars($line) == 5, 'nqp::readlinefh line to read'); # =pod\n
 ok( nqp::tellfh($credits) == 5, 'nqp::tellfh line two');
 my $rest := nqp::readallfh($credits);
 ok( nqp::chars($rest) > 100, 'nqp::readallfh lines to read');
 ok( nqp::tellfh($credits) == nqp::chars($line) + nqp::chars($rest), 'nqp::tellfh end of file');
+
 ok( nqp::chars(nqp::readlinefh($credits)) == 0, 'nqp::readlinefh end of file');
 ok( nqp::chars(nqp::readlinefh($credits)) == 0, 'nqp::readlinefh end of file repeat');
 ok( nqp::chars(nqp::readallfh($credits)) == 0, 'nqp::readallfh end of file');
@@ -31,3 +32,91 @@ ok( nqp::defined(nqp::closefh($credits)), 'nqp::closefh');
 ok( nqp::defined(nqp::getstdin()), 'nqp::getstdin');
 ok( nqp::defined(nqp::getstdout()), 'nqp::getstdout');
 ok( nqp::defined(nqp::getstderr()), 'nqp::getstderr');
+
+## open, printfh, readallfh, closefh
+my $test-file := 'test-nqp-19';
+nqp::unlink($test-file) if nqp::stat($test-file, 0); # XXX let mvm die on nonexistent file
+
+my $fh := nqp::open($test-file, 'w');
+ok($fh, 'we can open a nonexisting file for writing');
+nqp::closefh($fh);
+
+$fh := nqp::open($test-file, 'w');
+ok($fh, 'we can open an existing file for writing');
+nqp::closefh($fh);
+
+$fh := nqp::open($test-file, 'r');
+ok(nqp::readallfh($fh) eq '', 'test file is empty');
+nqp::closefh($fh);
+
+$fh := nqp::open($test-file, 'wa');
+ok(nqp::printfh($fh, "awesome") == 7, 'appended a string to that file');
+ok(nqp::printfh($fh, " thing!\n") == 8, 'appended a string to that file... again');
+nqp::closefh($fh);
+
+$fh := nqp::open($test-file, 'r');
+ok(nqp::readallfh($fh) eq "awesome thing!\n", 'test file contains the strings');
+ok(nqp::tellfh($fh) == 15, 'tellfh gives correct position');
+nqp::closefh($fh);
+
+$fh := nqp::open($test-file, 'w');
+nqp::closefh($fh);
+$fh := nqp::open($test-file, 'r');
+ok(nqp::readallfh($fh) eq '', 'opening for writing truncates the file');
+nqp::closefh($fh);
+
+## setencoding
+$fh := nqp::open($test-file, 'w');
+nqp::setencoding($fh, 'utf8');
+ok(nqp::printfh($fh, "ä") == 2, 'umlauts are printed as two bytes');
+nqp::closefh($fh);
+
+$fh := nqp::open($test-file, 'r');
+nqp::setencoding($fh, 'utf8'); # XXX let ascii be the default
+my $str := nqp::readallfh($fh);
+ok(nqp::chars($str) == 1, 'utf8 means one char for an umlaut');
+ok($str eq "ä", 'utf8 reads the umlaut correct');
+nqp::closefh($fh);
+
+$fh := nqp::open($test-file, 'r');
+nqp::setencoding($fh, 'iso-8859-1');
+ok(nqp::chars(nqp::readallfh($fh)) == 2, 'switching to ansi results in 2 chars for an umlaut');
+nqp::closefh($fh);
+
+## chdir
+nqp::chdir('t');
+$fh := nqp::open('../' ~ $test-file, 'r');
+nqp::setencoding($fh, 'utf8');
+ok(nqp::chars(nqp::readallfh($fh)) == 1, 'we can chdir into a subdir');
+nqp::closefh($fh);
+
+nqp::chdir('..');
+$fh := nqp::open($test-file, 'r');
+nqp::setencoding($fh, 'utf8');
+ok(nqp::chars(nqp::readallfh($fh)) == 1, 'we can chdir back to the parent dir');
+nqp::closefh($fh);
+
+## mkdir
+nqp::mkdir($test-file ~ '-dir', 0o777);
+nqp::chdir($test-file ~ '-dir');
+$fh := nqp::open('../' ~ $test-file, 'r');
+nqp::setencoding($fh, 'utf8');
+ok(nqp::chars(nqp::readallfh($fh)) == 1, 'we can create a new directory');
+nqp::closefh($fh);
+nqp::chdir('..');
+
+nqp::rmdir($test-file ~ '-dir');
+nqp::unlink($test-file);
+
+if nqp::getcomp('nqp').backend.name eq 'parrot' {
+    say("ok $_ # Skipped: readlinefh is broken on parrot") for (36, 37, 38, 39, 40);
+}
+else {
+    $fh := nqp::open('t/nqp/19-readline.txt', 'r');
+    ok(nqp::readlinefh($fh) eq "line1\r",   'reading a line till CR');
+    ok(nqp::readlinefh($fh) eq "line2\r\n", 'reading a line till CRLF');
+    ok(nqp::readlinefh($fh) eq "line3\n",   'reading a line till LF');
+    ok(nqp::readlinefh($fh) eq "\n",          'reading an empty line');
+    ok(nqp::readlinefh($fh) eq "line4",     'reading a line till EOF');
+    nqp::closefh($fh);
+}