The strip cuts the message at the "Log Extract:" marker, and got was declared $256 - so a message whose text pushed the marker past 256 characters was never stripped, and the exact comparison then failed on the escaped tail. got is now the same width as line ($32767). Covered by a new case in mpe_assert_abort.test.sas: an abort whose message runs past 256 characters, asserted in full. It fails against the $256 buffer and passes once got is widened, so the width is pinned rather than assumed. mpe_assert_abort: PASS, full suite 64/64, rebuilt with sasjs cbd.