diff --git a/cake/console/libs/shell.php b/cake/console/libs/shell.php
index 01855bceb..a0a194d70 100644
--- a/cake/console/libs/shell.php
+++ b/cake/console/libs/shell.php
@@ -338,53 +338,59 @@ class Shell extends Object {
 		}
 	}
 /**
- * Outputs to the stdout filehandle.
+ * Outputs a single or multiple messages to stdout.
  *
- * @param string $string String to output.
- * @param boolean $newline If true, the outputs gets an added newline.
+ * @param mixed $message A string or a an array of strings to output
+ * @param mixed $after Appended to message, if true a newline is used
  * @access public
  */
-	function out($string, $newline = true) {
-		if (is_array($string)) {
-			$str = '';
-			foreach ($string as $message) {
-				$str .= $message ."\n";
-			}
-			$string = $str;
+	function out($message, $after = true) {
+		if (is_array($message)) {
+			$message = implode($this->nl(), $message);
 		}
-		return $this->Dispatch->stdout($string, $newline);
+		$this->Dispatch->stdout($message . $this->nl($after), false);
 	}
 /**
- * Outputs to the stderr filehandle.
+ * Outputs a single or multiple error messages to stderr.
  *
- * @param string $string Error text to output.
- * @param boolean $newline If true, the outputs gets an added newline.
+ * @param mixed $message A string or a an array of strings to output
+ * @param mixed $after Appended to message, if true a newline is used
  * @access public
  */
-	function err($string, $newline = true) {
-		if (is_array($string)) {
-			$str = '';
-			foreach ($string as $message) {
-				$str .= $message ."\n";
-			}
-			$string = $str;
+	function err($message, $after = true) {
+		if (is_array($message)) {
+			$message = implode($this->nl(), $message);
 		}
-		return $this->Dispatch->stderr($string . ($newline ? "\n" : ''));
+		$this->Dispatch->stderr($message . $this->nl($after));
+	}
+/**
+ * Returns a single or multiple linefeeds sequences.
+ *
+ * @param mixed $format If true returns a linefeed sequence, if false null,
+ *	if a string is given that is returned,
+ *	if an integer is given it is used as a multiplier to return multiple linefeed sequences
+ * @access public
+ * @return string
+ */
+	function nl($format = true) {
+		if (is_string($format)) {
+			return $format;
+		}
+		if (is_integer($format)) {
+			return str_repeat("\n", $format);
+		}
+		return $format ? "\n" : null;
 	}
 /**
  * Outputs a series of minus characters to the standard output, acts as a visual separator.
  *
- * @param boolean $newline If true, the outputs gets an added newline.
+ * @param mixed $surround If true, the outputs gets surrounded by newlines.
  * @access public
  */
-	function hr($newline = false) {
-		if ($newline) {
-			$this->out("\n");
-		}
+	function hr($surround = false) {
+		$this->out(null, $surround);
 		$this->out('---------------------------------------------------------------');
-		if ($newline) {
-			$this->out("\n");
-		}
+		$this->out(null, $surround);
 	}
 /**
  * Displays a formatted error message
diff --git a/cake/tests/cases/console/libs/shell.test.php b/cake/tests/cases/console/libs/shell.test.php
index 8d03541fc..6144842a4 100644
--- a/cake/tests/cases/console/libs/shell.test.php
+++ b/cake/tests/cases/console/libs/shell.test.php
@@ -48,6 +48,23 @@ Mock::generatePartial(
  * @subpackage    cake.tests.cases.console.libs
  */
 class TestShell extends Shell {
+/**
+ * stopped property
+ *
+ * @var integer
+ * @access public
+ */
+	var $stopped;
+/**
+ * stop method
+ *
+ * @param integer $status
+ * @access protected
+ * @return void
+ */
+	function _stop($status = 0) {
+		$this->stopped = $status;
+	}
 }
 /**
  * TestAppleTask class
@@ -147,32 +164,6 @@ class ShellTest extends CakeTestCase {
 		Configure::write('pluginPaths', $_back['pluginPaths']);
 		Configure::write('modelPaths', $_back['modelPaths']);
 	}
-/**
- * testOut method
- *
- * @return void
- * @access public
- */
-	function testOut() {
-		$this->Shell->Dispatch->expectAt(0, 'stdout', array('Just a test', true));
-		$this->Shell->out('Just a test');
-
-		$this->Shell->Dispatch->expectAt(1, 'stdout', array("Just\na\ntest\n", true));
-		$this->Shell->out(array('Just', 'a', 'test'));
-	}
-/**
- * testErr method
- *
- * @return void
- * @access public
- */
-	function testErr() {
-		$this->Shell->Dispatch->expectAt(0, 'stderr', array("Just a test\n"));
-		$this->Shell->err('Just a test');
-
-		$this->Shell->Dispatch->expectAt(1, 'stderr', array("Just\na\ntest\n\n"));
-		$this->Shell->err(array('Just', 'a', 'test'));
-	}
 /**
  * testIn method
  *
@@ -210,6 +201,94 @@ class ShellTest extends CakeTestCase {
 		$result = $this->Shell->in('Just a test?', 'y/n', 'n');
 		$this->assertEqual($result, 'n');
 	}
+/**
+ * testOut method
+ *
+ * @return void
+ * @access public
+ */
+	function testOut() {
+		$this->Shell->Dispatch->expectAt(0, 'stdout', array("Just a test\n", false));
+		$this->Shell->out('Just a test');
+
+		$this->Shell->Dispatch->expectAt(1, 'stdout', array("Just\na\ntest\n", false));
+		$this->Shell->out(array('Just', 'a', 'test'));
+
+		$this->Shell->Dispatch->expectAt(2, 'stdout', array("Just\na\ntest\n\n", false));
+		$this->Shell->out(array('Just', 'a', 'test'), 2);
+	}
+/**
+ * testErr method
+ *
+ * @return void
+ * @access public
+ */
+	function testErr() {
+		$this->Shell->Dispatch->expectAt(0, 'stderr', array("Just a test\n"));
+		$this->Shell->err('Just a test');
+
+		$this->Shell->Dispatch->expectAt(1, 'stderr', array("Just\na\ntest\n"));
+		$this->Shell->err(array('Just', 'a', 'test'));
+
+		$this->Shell->Dispatch->expectAt(2, 'stderr', array("Just\na\ntest\n\n"));
+		$this->Shell->err(array('Just', 'a', 'test'), 2);
+	}
+/**
+ * testNl
+ *
+ * @access public
+ * @return void
+ */
+	function testNl() {
+		$this->assertEqual($this->Shell->nl(), "\n");
+		$this->assertEqual($this->Shell->nl(true), "\n");
+		$this->assertEqual($this->Shell->nl(false), "");
+		$this->assertEqual($this->Shell->nl(2), "\n\n");
+		$this->assertEqual($this->Shell->nl(1), "\n");
+		$this->assertEqual($this->Shell->nl("custom\n"), "custom\n");
+	}
+/**
+ * testHr
+ *
+ * @access public
+ * @return void
+ */
+	function testHr() {
+		$bar = '---------------------------------------------------------------';
+
+		$this->Shell->Dispatch->expectAt(0, 'stdout', array('', false));
+		$this->Shell->Dispatch->expectAt(1, 'stdout', array($bar . "\n", false));
+		$this->Shell->Dispatch->expectAt(2, 'stdout', array('', false));
+		$this->Shell->hr();
+
+		$this->Shell->Dispatch->expectAt(3, 'stdout', array("\n", false));
+		$this->Shell->Dispatch->expectAt(4, 'stdout', array($bar . "\n", false));
+		$this->Shell->Dispatch->expectAt(5, 'stdout', array("\n", false));
+		$this->Shell->hr(true);
+
+		$this->Shell->Dispatch->expectAt(3, 'stdout', array("\n\n", false));
+		$this->Shell->Dispatch->expectAt(4, 'stdout', array($bar . "\n", false));
+		$this->Shell->Dispatch->expectAt(5, 'stdout', array("\n\n", false));
+		$this->Shell->hr(2);
+	}
+/**
+ * testError
+ *
+ * @access public
+ * @return void
+ */
+	function testError() {
+		$this->Shell->Dispatch->expectAt(0, 'stderr', array("Error: Foo Not Found\n"));
+		$this->Shell->error('Foo Not Found');
+		$this->assertIdentical($this->Shell->stopped, 1);
+
+		$this->Shell->stopped = null;
+
+		$this->Shell->Dispatch->expectAt(1, 'stderr', array("Error: Foo Not Found\n"));
+		$this->Shell->Dispatch->expectAt(2, 'stderr', array("Searched all...\n"));
+		$this->Shell->error('Foo Not Found', 'Searched all...');
+		$this->assertIdentical($this->Shell->stopped, 1);
+	}
 /**
  * testLoadTasks method
  *