diff --git a/hierarchy.go b/hierarchy.go
index 2d4bec5..3c70b5e 100644
--- a/hierarchy.go
+++ b/hierarchy.go
@@ -84,3 +84,18 @@ const (
 	DotDotType                     // .. - A relative path step. keywords/options are ignored
 	FullType                       // if the first word on the line has a `/` after the first character, it interpretted as a file pathname with options
 )
+
+// String returns the name of the EntryType
+func (et EntryType) String() string {
+	return typeNames[et]
+}
+
+var typeNames = map[EntryType]string{
+	SignatureType: "SignatureType",
+	BlankType:     "BlankType",
+	CommentType:   "CommentType",
+	SpecialType:   "SpecialType",
+	RelativeType:  "RelativeType",
+	DotDotType:    "DotDotType",
+	FullType:      "FullType",
+}
diff --git a/mtree_test.go b/mtree_test.go
index b4f12bd..836fa6f 100644
--- a/mtree_test.go
+++ b/mtree_test.go
@@ -1,14 +1,23 @@
 package mtree
 
 import (
-	"fmt"
+	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
 	"testing"
 )
 
-var testFiles = []string{
-	"testdata/source.mtree",
-}
+var (
+	testFiles  = []string{"testdata/source.mtree"}
+	numEntries = map[EntryType]int{
+		FullType:     0,
+		RelativeType: 45,
+		CommentType:  37,
+		SpecialType:  7,
+		DotDotType:   17,
+		BlankType:    34,
+	}
+	expectedLength = int64(7887)
+)
 
 func TestParser(t *testing.T) {
 	for _, file := range testFiles {
@@ -24,13 +33,36 @@ func TestParser(t *testing.T) {
 			if err != nil {
 				t.Error(err)
 			}
-			fmt.Printf("%q", dh)
+			gotNums := countTypes(dh)
+			for typ, num := range numEntries {
+				if gNum, ok := gotNums[typ]; ok {
+					if num != gNum {
+						t.Errorf("for type %s: expected %d, got %d", typ, num, gNum)
+					}
+				}
+			}
 
-			_, err = dh.WriteTo(os.Stdout)
+			i, err := dh.WriteTo(ioutil.Discard)
 			if err != nil {
 				t.Error(err)
 			}
+			if i != expectedLength {
+				t.Errorf("expected to write %d, but wrote %d", expectedLength, i)
+			}
 
 		}()
 	}
 }
+
+func countTypes(dh *DirectoryHierarchy) map[EntryType]int {
+	nT := map[EntryType]int{}
+	for i := range dh.Entries {
+		typ := dh.Entries[i].Type
+		if _, ok := nT[typ]; !ok {
+			nT[typ] = 1
+		} else {
+			nT[typ]++
+		}
+	}
+	return nT
+}