diff --git a/exercises/aggregates.sh b/exercises/aggregates.sh
index e2baecdb11..e5fc7dec84 100755
--- a/exercises/aggregates.sh
+++ b/exercises/aggregates.sh
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ META_DATA_2_KEY=foo
 META_DATA_3_KEY=bar
 
 #ensure no additional metadata is set
-nova aggregate-details $AGGREGATE_ID | egrep "{u'availability_zone': u'$AGGREGATE_A_ZONE'}|{}"
+nova aggregate-details $AGGREGATE_ID | egrep "\|[{u ]*'availability_zone.+$AGGREGATE_A_ZONE'[ }]*\|"
 
 nova aggregate-set-metadata $AGGREGATE_ID ${META_DATA_1_KEY}=123
 nova aggregate-details $AGGREGATE_ID | grep $META_DATA_1_KEY
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ nova aggregate-details $AGGREGATE_ID | grep $META_DATA_3_KEY
 nova aggregate-details $AGGREGATE_ID | grep $META_DATA_2_KEY && die $LINENO "ERROR metadata was not cleared"
 
 nova aggregate-set-metadata $AGGREGATE_ID $META_DATA_3_KEY $META_DATA_1_KEY
-nova aggregate-details $AGGREGATE_ID | egrep "{u'availability_zone': u'$AGGREGATE_A_ZONE'}|{}"
+nova aggregate-details $AGGREGATE_ID | egrep "\|[{u ]*'availability_zone.+$AGGREGATE_A_ZONE'[ }]*\|"
 
 
 # Test aggregate-add/remove-host