diff --git a/spec/ruby/library/etc/sysconf_spec.rb b/spec/ruby/library/etc/sysconf_spec.rb
index 5c7ad31836..e7d59d1b22 100644
--- a/spec/ruby/library/etc/sysconf_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/ruby/library/etc/sysconf_spec.rb
@@ -3,29 +3,20 @@ require 'etc'
 
 platform_is_not :windows do
   describe "Etc.sysconf" do
-    def should_be_integer_or_nil(value)
-      if value.nil?
-        value.should == nil
-      else
-        value.should be_kind_of(Integer)
+    %w[
+      SC_ARG_MAX SC_CHILD_MAX SC_HOST_NAME_MAX SC_LOGIN_NAME_MAX SC_NGROUPS_MAX
+      SC_CLK_TCK SC_OPEN_MAX SC_PAGESIZE SC_RE_DUP_MAX SC_STREAM_MAX
+      SC_SYMLOOP_MAX SC_TTY_NAME_MAX SC_TZNAME_MAX SC_VERSION
+    ].each do |const|
+      it "returns the value of POSIX.1 system configuration variable #{const}" do
+        var = Etc.const_get(const)
+        value = Etc.sysconf(var)
+        if value.nil?
+          value.should == nil
+        else
+          value.should be_kind_of(Integer)
+        end
       end
     end
-
-    it "returns the value of POSIX.1 system configuration variables" do
-      Etc.sysconf(Etc::SC_ARG_MAX).should be_kind_of(Integer)
-      should_be_integer_or_nil(Etc.sysconf(Etc::SC_CHILD_MAX))
-      Etc.sysconf(Etc::SC_HOST_NAME_MAX).should be_kind_of(Integer)
-      Etc.sysconf(Etc::SC_LOGIN_NAME_MAX).should be_kind_of(Integer)
-      Etc.sysconf(Etc::SC_NGROUPS_MAX).should be_kind_of(Integer)
-      Etc.sysconf(Etc::SC_CLK_TCK).should be_kind_of(Integer)
-      Etc.sysconf(Etc::SC_OPEN_MAX).should be_kind_of(Integer)
-      Etc.sysconf(Etc::SC_PAGESIZE).should be_kind_of(Integer)
-      Etc.sysconf(Etc::SC_RE_DUP_MAX).should be_kind_of(Integer)
-      Etc.sysconf(Etc::SC_STREAM_MAX).should be_kind_of(Integer)
-      should_be_integer_or_nil(Etc.sysconf(Etc::SC_SYMLOOP_MAX))
-      Etc.sysconf(Etc::SC_TTY_NAME_MAX).should be_kind_of(Integer)
-      should_be_integer_or_nil(Etc.sysconf(Etc::SC_TZNAME_MAX))
-      Etc.sysconf(Etc::SC_VERSION).should be_kind_of(Integer)
-    end
   end
 end