diff --git a/platform/testFramework/src/com/intellij/TestCaseLoader.java b/platform/testFramework/src/com/intellij/TestCaseLoader.java
index 5ffd9abc002b..df90ffa7714e 100644
--- a/platform/testFramework/src/com/intellij/TestCaseLoader.java
+++ b/platform/testFramework/src/com/intellij/TestCaseLoader.java
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ public class TestCaseLoader {
         }
       }
     }
-    System.out.println("Using test group: [" + (myTestGroupName == null ? "" :  myTestGroupName) + "]");
+    System.out.println("Using test group: [" + myTestGroupName + "]");
   }
 
   /*
diff --git a/platform/testFramework/src/com/intellij/TestClassesFilter.java b/platform/testFramework/src/com/intellij/TestClassesFilter.java
index a208c57e03cf..e38cdf64878d 100644
--- a/platform/testFramework/src/com/intellij/TestClassesFilter.java
+++ b/platform/testFramework/src/com/intellij/TestClassesFilter.java
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@
  */
 package com.intellij;
 
+import com.intellij.openapi.util.text.StringUtil;
+
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStreamReader;
 import java.io.LineNumberReader;
@@ -137,6 +139,14 @@ public class TestClassesFilter {
           currentGroupName = line.substring(1, line.length() - 1);
         }
         else {
+          final int commentStart = line.indexOf("#");
+          if (commentStart >= 0) {
+            line = line.substring(0, commentStart);
+          }
+          if (StringUtil.isEmpty(line)) {
+            continue;
+          }
+
           if (!groupNameToPatternsMap.containsKey(currentGroupName)) {
             groupNameToPatternsMap.put(currentGroupName, new ArrayList<String>());
           }
@@ -189,7 +199,7 @@ public class TestClassesFilter {
   }
 
   private static boolean isAllExcludeDefinedGroup(String groupName) {
-    return groupName == null || ALL_EXCLUDE_DEFINED.equalsIgnoreCase(groupName.trim());
+    return StringUtil.isEmpty(groupName) || ALL_EXCLUDE_DEFINED.equalsIgnoreCase(groupName.trim());
   }
 
   private List<Pattern> collectPatternsFor(String groupName) {