diff --git a/libexec/bats b/libexec/bats
index 7dc0c14..e074747 100755
--- a/libexec/bats
+++ b/libexec/bats
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ abs_dirname '.' 'BATS_CWD'
 
 export BATS_PREFIX
 export BATS_CWD
+export BATS_TEST_PATTERN='^ *@test +(.+) +\{ *(.*)$'
 export PATH="$BATS_LIBEXEC:$PATH"
 
 options=()
diff --git a/libexec/bats-exec-suite b/libexec/bats-exec-suite
index 29ab255..96021bb 100755
--- a/libexec/bats-exec-suite
+++ b/libexec/bats-exec-suite
@@ -17,7 +17,11 @@ trap "kill 0; exit 1" int
 
 count=0
 for filename in "$@"; do
-  let count+="$(bats-exec-test -c "$filename")"
+  while IFS= read -r line; do
+    if [[ "$line" =~ $BATS_TEST_PATTERN ]]; then
+      let count+=1
+    fi
+  done <"$filename"
 done
 
 if [ -n "$count_only_flag" ]; then
diff --git a/libexec/bats-preprocess b/libexec/bats-preprocess
index 30392b6..8307b76 100755
--- a/libexec/bats-preprocess
+++ b/libexec/bats-preprocess
@@ -33,12 +33,11 @@ encode_name() {
 
 tests=()
 index=0
-pattern='^ *@test +(.+) +\{ *(.*)$'
 
 while IFS= read -r line; do
   line="${line//$'\r'}"
   let index+=1
-  if [[ "$line" =~ $pattern ]]; then
+  if [[ "$line" =~ $BATS_TEST_PATTERN ]]; then
     name="${BASH_REMATCH[1]#[\'\"]}"
     name="${name%[\'\"]}"
     body="${BASH_REMATCH[2]}"