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Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001:mod:`unittest` --- Unit testing framework
2==========================================
3
4.. module:: unittest
5 :synopsis: Unit testing framework for Python.
6.. moduleauthor:: Steve Purcell <stephen_purcell@yahoo.com>
7.. sectionauthor:: Steve Purcell <stephen_purcell@yahoo.com>
8.. sectionauthor:: Fred L. Drake, Jr. <fdrake@acm.org>
9.. sectionauthor:: Raymond Hettinger <python@rcn.com>
10
11
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +000012The Python unit testing framework, sometimes referred to as "PyUnit," is a
13Python language version of JUnit, by Kent Beck and Erich Gamma. JUnit is, in
14turn, a Java version of Kent's Smalltalk testing framework. Each is the de
15facto standard unit testing framework for its respective language.
16
17:mod:`unittest` supports test automation, sharing of setup and shutdown code for
18tests, aggregation of tests into collections, and independence of the tests from
19the reporting framework. The :mod:`unittest` module provides classes that make
20it easy to support these qualities for a set of tests.
21
22To achieve this, :mod:`unittest` supports some important concepts:
23
24test fixture
25 A :dfn:`test fixture` represents the preparation needed to perform one or more
26 tests, and any associate cleanup actions. This may involve, for example,
27 creating temporary or proxy databases, directories, or starting a server
28 process.
29
30test case
31 A :dfn:`test case` is the smallest unit of testing. It checks for a specific
32 response to a particular set of inputs. :mod:`unittest` provides a base class,
33 :class:`TestCase`, which may be used to create new test cases.
34
35test suite
36 A :dfn:`test suite` is a collection of test cases, test suites, or both. It is
37 used to aggregate tests that should be executed together.
38
39test runner
40 A :dfn:`test runner` is a component which orchestrates the execution of tests
41 and provides the outcome to the user. The runner may use a graphical interface,
42 a textual interface, or return a special value to indicate the results of
43 executing the tests.
44
45The test case and test fixture concepts are supported through the
46:class:`TestCase` and :class:`FunctionTestCase` classes; the former should be
47used when creating new tests, and the latter can be used when integrating
48existing test code with a :mod:`unittest`\ -driven framework. When building test
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +000049fixtures using :class:`TestCase`, the :meth:`~TestCase.setUp` and
50:meth:`~TestCase.tearDown` methods can be overridden to provide initialization
51and cleanup for the fixture. With :class:`FunctionTestCase`, existing functions
52can be passed to the constructor for these purposes. When the test is run, the
53fixture initialization is run first; if it succeeds, the cleanup method is run
54after the test has been executed, regardless of the outcome of the test. Each
55instance of the :class:`TestCase` will only be used to run a single test method,
56so a new fixture is created for each test.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +000057
58Test suites are implemented by the :class:`TestSuite` class. This class allows
59individual tests and test suites to be aggregated; when the suite is executed,
Benjamin Peterson14a3dd72009-05-25 00:51:58 +000060all tests added directly to the suite and in "child" test suites are run.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +000061
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +000062A test runner is an object that provides a single method,
63:meth:`~TestRunner.run`, which accepts a :class:`TestCase` or :class:`TestSuite`
64object as a parameter, and returns a result object. The class
65:class:`TestResult` is provided for use as the result object. :mod:`unittest`
66provides the :class:`TextTestRunner` as an example test runner which reports
67test results on the standard error stream by default. Alternate runners can be
68implemented for other environments (such as graphical environments) without any
69need to derive from a specific class.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +000070
71
72.. seealso::
73
74 Module :mod:`doctest`
75 Another test-support module with a very different flavor.
76
Benjamin Petersonb48af542010-04-11 20:43:16 +000077 `unittest2: A backport of new unittest features for Python 2.4-2.6 <http://pypi.python.org/pypi/unittest2>`_
78 Many new features were added to unittest in Python 2.7, including test
79 discovery. unittest2 allows you to use these features with earlier
80 versions of Python.
81
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +000082 `Simple Smalltalk Testing: With Patterns <http://www.XProgramming.com/testfram.htm>`_
Benjamin Petersond2397752009-06-27 23:45:02 +000083 Kent Beck's original paper on testing frameworks using the pattern shared
84 by :mod:`unittest`.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +000085
Raymond Hettinger6b232cd2009-03-24 00:22:53 +000086 `Nose <http://code.google.com/p/python-nose/>`_ and `py.test <http://pytest.org>`_
Benjamin Petersond2397752009-06-27 23:45:02 +000087 Third-party unittest frameworks with a lighter-weight syntax for writing
88 tests. For example, ``assert func(10) == 42``.
Raymond Hettinger6b232cd2009-03-24 00:22:53 +000089
Benjamin Petersonb48af542010-04-11 20:43:16 +000090 `The Python Testing Tools Taxonomy <http://pycheesecake.org/wiki/PythonTestingToolsTaxonomy>`_
91 An extensive list of Python testing tools including functional testing
92 frameworks and mock object libraries.
Benjamin Petersond2397752009-06-27 23:45:02 +000093
Benjamin Petersonb48af542010-04-11 20:43:16 +000094 `Testing in Python Mailing List <http://lists.idyll.org/listinfo/testing-in-python>`_
95 A special-interest-group for discussion of testing, and testing tools,
96 in Python.
Benjamin Petersond2397752009-06-27 23:45:02 +000097
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +000098.. _unittest-minimal-example:
99
100Basic example
101-------------
102
103The :mod:`unittest` module provides a rich set of tools for constructing and
104running tests. This section demonstrates that a small subset of the tools
105suffice to meet the needs of most users.
106
107Here is a short script to test three functions from the :mod:`random` module::
108
109 import random
110 import unittest
111
112 class TestSequenceFunctions(unittest.TestCase):
113
114 def setUp(self):
Benjamin Petersonbe0e1772009-07-25 01:02:01 +0000115 self.seq = list(range(10))
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000116
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000117 def test_shuffle(self):
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000118 # make sure the shuffled sequence does not lose any elements
119 random.shuffle(self.seq)
120 self.seq.sort()
Benjamin Petersonbe0e1772009-07-25 01:02:01 +0000121 self.assertEqual(self.seq, list(range(10)))
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000122
Benjamin Peterson847a4112010-03-14 15:04:17 +0000123 # should raise an exception for an immutable sequence
124 self.assertRaises(TypeError, random.shuffle, (1,2,3))
125
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000126 def test_choice(self):
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000127 element = random.choice(self.seq)
Benjamin Peterson847a4112010-03-14 15:04:17 +0000128 self.assertTrue(element in self.seq)
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000129
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000130 def test_sample(self):
Benjamin Peterson847a4112010-03-14 15:04:17 +0000131 with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
132 random.sample(self.seq, 20)
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000133 for element in random.sample(self.seq, 5):
Benjamin Peterson847a4112010-03-14 15:04:17 +0000134 self.assertTrue(element in self.seq)
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000135
136 if __name__ == '__main__':
137 unittest.main()
138
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000139A testcase is created by subclassing :class:`unittest.TestCase`. The three
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000140individual tests are defined with methods whose names start with the letters
141``test``. This naming convention informs the test runner about which methods
142represent tests.
143
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000144The crux of each test is a call to :meth:`~TestCase.assertEqual` to check for an
Michael Foord34c94622010-02-10 15:51:42 +0000145expected result; :meth:`~TestCase.assertTrue` to verify a condition; or
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000146:meth:`~TestCase.assertRaises` to verify that an expected exception gets raised.
147These methods are used instead of the :keyword:`assert` statement so the test
148runner can accumulate all test results and produce a report.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000149
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000150When a :meth:`~TestCase.setUp` method is defined, the test runner will run that
151method prior to each test. Likewise, if a :meth:`~TestCase.tearDown` method is
152defined, the test runner will invoke that method after each test. In the
153example, :meth:`~TestCase.setUp` was used to create a fresh sequence for each
154test.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000155
156The final block shows a simple way to run the tests. :func:`unittest.main`
157provides a command line interface to the test script. When run from the command
158line, the above script produces an output that looks like this::
159
160 ...
161 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
162 Ran 3 tests in 0.000s
163
164 OK
165
166Instead of :func:`unittest.main`, there are other ways to run the tests with a
167finer level of control, less terse output, and no requirement to be run from the
168command line. For example, the last two lines may be replaced with::
169
170 suite = unittest.TestLoader().loadTestsFromTestCase(TestSequenceFunctions)
171 unittest.TextTestRunner(verbosity=2).run(suite)
172
173Running the revised script from the interpreter or another script produces the
174following output::
175
Ezio Melottid59e44a2010-02-28 03:46:13 +0000176 test_choice (__main__.TestSequenceFunctions) ... ok
177 test_sample (__main__.TestSequenceFunctions) ... ok
178 test_shuffle (__main__.TestSequenceFunctions) ... ok
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000179
180 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
181 Ran 3 tests in 0.110s
182
183 OK
184
185The above examples show the most commonly used :mod:`unittest` features which
186are sufficient to meet many everyday testing needs. The remainder of the
187documentation explores the full feature set from first principles.
188
Benjamin Petersonb48af542010-04-11 20:43:16 +0000189
190.. _unittest-command-line-interface:
191
192Command Line Interface
193----------------------
194
195The unittest module can be used from the command line to run tests from
196modules, classes or even individual test methods::
197
198 python -m unittest test_module1 test_module2
199 python -m unittest test_module.TestClass
200 python -m unittest test_module.TestClass.test_method
201
202You can pass in a list with any combination of module names, and fully
203qualified class or method names.
204
205You can run tests with more detail (higher verbosity) by passing in the -v flag::
206
207 python -m unittest -v test_module
208
209For a list of all the command line options::
210
211 python -m unittest -h
212
Georg Brandl67b21b72010-08-17 15:07:14 +0000213.. versionchanged:: 3.2
Benjamin Petersonb48af542010-04-11 20:43:16 +0000214 In earlier versions it was only possible to run individual test methods and
215 not modules or classes.
216
217
218failfast, catch and buffer command line options
219~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
220
221unittest supports three command options.
222
Benjamin Petersond7c3ed52010-06-27 22:32:30 +0000223* :option:`-b` / :option:`--buffer`
Benjamin Petersonb48af542010-04-11 20:43:16 +0000224
Benjamin Petersond7c3ed52010-06-27 22:32:30 +0000225 The standard output and standard error streams are buffered during the test
Benjamin Petersonb48af542010-04-11 20:43:16 +0000226 run. Output during a passing test is discarded. Output is echoed normally
227 on test fail or error and is added to the failure messages.
228
Benjamin Petersond7c3ed52010-06-27 22:32:30 +0000229* :option:`-c` / :option:`--catch`
230
231 Control-C during the test run waits for the current test to end and then
232 reports all the results so far. A second control-C raises the normal
233 :exc:`KeyboardInterrupt` exception.
234
235 See `Signal Handling`_ for the functions that provide this functionality.
236
237* :option:`-f` / :option:`--failfast`
238
239 Stop the test run on the first error or failure.
240
Ezio Melotti7afd3f52010-04-20 09:32:54 +0000241.. versionadded:: 3.2
Benjamin Petersond7c3ed52010-06-27 22:32:30 +0000242 The command line options ``-c``, ``-b`` and ``-f`` were added.
Benjamin Petersonb48af542010-04-11 20:43:16 +0000243
244The command line can also be used for test discovery, for running all of the
245tests in a project or just a subset.
246
247
248.. _unittest-test-discovery:
249
250Test Discovery
251--------------
252
Ezio Melotti7afd3f52010-04-20 09:32:54 +0000253.. versionadded:: 3.2
Benjamin Petersonb48af542010-04-11 20:43:16 +0000254
255Unittest supports simple test discovery. For a project's tests to be
256compatible with test discovery they must all be importable from the top level
257directory of the project (in other words, they must all be in Python packages).
258
259Test discovery is implemented in :meth:`TestLoader.discover`, but can also be
260used from the command line. The basic command line usage is::
261
262 cd project_directory
263 python -m unittest discover
264
265The ``discover`` sub-command has the following options:
266
267 -v, --verbose Verbose output
268 -s directory Directory to start discovery ('.' default)
269 -p pattern Pattern to match test files ('test*.py' default)
270 -t directory Top level directory of project (default to
271 start directory)
272
Benjamin Petersond7c3ed52010-06-27 22:32:30 +0000273The :option:`-s`, :option:`-p`, and :option:`-t` options can be passed in
274as positional arguments in that order. The following two command lines
275are equivalent::
Benjamin Petersonb48af542010-04-11 20:43:16 +0000276
277 python -m unittest discover -s project_directory -p '*_test.py'
278 python -m unittest discover project_directory '*_test.py'
279
Michael Foord16f3e902010-05-08 15:13:42 +0000280As well as being a path it is possible to pass a package name, for example
281``myproject.subpackage.test``, as the start directory. The package name you
282supply will then be imported and its location on the filesystem will be used
283as the start directory.
284
285.. caution::
286
Senthil Kumaran916bd382010-10-15 12:55:19 +0000287 Test discovery loads tests by importing them. Once test discovery has found
288 all the test files from the start directory you specify it turns the paths
289 into package names to import. For example :file:`foo/bar/baz.py` will be
Michael Foord16f3e902010-05-08 15:13:42 +0000290 imported as ``foo.bar.baz``.
291
292 If you have a package installed globally and attempt test discovery on
293 a different copy of the package then the import *could* happen from the
294 wrong place. If this happens test discovery will warn you and exit.
295
296 If you supply the start directory as a package name rather than a
297 path to a directory then discover assumes that whichever location it
298 imports from is the location you intended, so you will not get the
299 warning.
300
Benjamin Petersonb48af542010-04-11 20:43:16 +0000301Test modules and packages can customize test loading and discovery by through
302the `load_tests protocol`_.
303
304
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000305.. _organizing-tests:
306
307Organizing test code
308--------------------
309
310The basic building blocks of unit testing are :dfn:`test cases` --- single
311scenarios that must be set up and checked for correctness. In :mod:`unittest`,
312test cases are represented by instances of :mod:`unittest`'s :class:`TestCase`
313class. To make your own test cases you must write subclasses of
314:class:`TestCase`, or use :class:`FunctionTestCase`.
315
316An instance of a :class:`TestCase`\ -derived class is an object that can
317completely run a single test method, together with optional set-up and tidy-up
318code.
319
320The testing code of a :class:`TestCase` instance should be entirely self
321contained, such that it can be run either in isolation or in arbitrary
322combination with any number of other test cases.
323
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000324The simplest :class:`TestCase` subclass will simply override the
325:meth:`~TestCase.runTest` method in order to perform specific testing code::
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000326
327 import unittest
328
329 class DefaultWidgetSizeTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
330 def runTest(self):
331 widget = Widget('The widget')
332 self.assertEqual(widget.size(), (50, 50), 'incorrect default size')
333
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +0000334Note that in order to test something, we use the one of the :meth:`assert\*`
Benjamin Petersond2397752009-06-27 23:45:02 +0000335methods provided by the :class:`TestCase` base class. If the test fails, an
336exception will be raised, and :mod:`unittest` will identify the test case as a
337:dfn:`failure`. Any other exceptions will be treated as :dfn:`errors`. This
338helps you identify where the problem is: :dfn:`failures` are caused by incorrect
339results - a 5 where you expected a 6. :dfn:`Errors` are caused by incorrect
340code - e.g., a :exc:`TypeError` caused by an incorrect function call.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000341
342The way to run a test case will be described later. For now, note that to
343construct an instance of such a test case, we call its constructor without
344arguments::
345
346 testCase = DefaultWidgetSizeTestCase()
347
348Now, such test cases can be numerous, and their set-up can be repetitive. In
349the above case, constructing a :class:`Widget` in each of 100 Widget test case
350subclasses would mean unsightly duplication.
351
352Luckily, we can factor out such set-up code by implementing a method called
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000353:meth:`~TestCase.setUp`, which the testing framework will automatically call for
354us when we run the test::
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000355
356 import unittest
357
358 class SimpleWidgetTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
359 def setUp(self):
360 self.widget = Widget('The widget')
361
362 class DefaultWidgetSizeTestCase(SimpleWidgetTestCase):
363 def runTest(self):
Ezio Melotti2d6c39b2010-02-04 20:27:41 +0000364 self.assertEqual(self.widget.size(), (50,50),
365 'incorrect default size')
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000366
367 class WidgetResizeTestCase(SimpleWidgetTestCase):
368 def runTest(self):
369 self.widget.resize(100,150)
Ezio Melotti2d6c39b2010-02-04 20:27:41 +0000370 self.assertEqual(self.widget.size(), (100,150),
371 'wrong size after resize')
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000372
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000373If the :meth:`~TestCase.setUp` method raises an exception while the test is
374running, the framework will consider the test to have suffered an error, and the
375:meth:`~TestCase.runTest` method will not be executed.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000376
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000377Similarly, we can provide a :meth:`~TestCase.tearDown` method that tidies up
378after the :meth:`~TestCase.runTest` method has been run::
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000379
380 import unittest
381
382 class SimpleWidgetTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
383 def setUp(self):
384 self.widget = Widget('The widget')
385
386 def tearDown(self):
387 self.widget.dispose()
388 self.widget = None
389
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000390If :meth:`~TestCase.setUp` succeeded, the :meth:`~TestCase.tearDown` method will
391be run whether :meth:`~TestCase.runTest` succeeded or not.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000392
393Such a working environment for the testing code is called a :dfn:`fixture`.
394
395Often, many small test cases will use the same fixture. In this case, we would
396end up subclassing :class:`SimpleWidgetTestCase` into many small one-method
397classes such as :class:`DefaultWidgetSizeTestCase`. This is time-consuming and
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000398discouraging, so in the same vein as JUnit, :mod:`unittest` provides a simpler
399mechanism::
400
401 import unittest
402
403 class WidgetTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
404 def setUp(self):
405 self.widget = Widget('The widget')
406
407 def tearDown(self):
408 self.widget.dispose()
409 self.widget = None
410
Ezio Melottid59e44a2010-02-28 03:46:13 +0000411 def test_default_size(self):
Ezio Melotti2d6c39b2010-02-04 20:27:41 +0000412 self.assertEqual(self.widget.size(), (50,50),
413 'incorrect default size')
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000414
Ezio Melottid59e44a2010-02-28 03:46:13 +0000415 def test_resize(self):
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000416 self.widget.resize(100,150)
Ezio Melotti2d6c39b2010-02-04 20:27:41 +0000417 self.assertEqual(self.widget.size(), (100,150),
418 'wrong size after resize')
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000419
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000420Here we have not provided a :meth:`~TestCase.runTest` method, but have instead
421provided two different test methods. Class instances will now each run one of
Ezio Melottid59e44a2010-02-28 03:46:13 +0000422the :meth:`test_\*` methods, with ``self.widget`` created and destroyed
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000423separately for each instance. When creating an instance we must specify the
424test method it is to run. We do this by passing the method name in the
425constructor::
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000426
Ezio Melottid59e44a2010-02-28 03:46:13 +0000427 defaultSizeTestCase = WidgetTestCase('test_default_size')
428 resizeTestCase = WidgetTestCase('test_resize')
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000429
430Test case instances are grouped together according to the features they test.
431:mod:`unittest` provides a mechanism for this: the :dfn:`test suite`,
432represented by :mod:`unittest`'s :class:`TestSuite` class::
433
434 widgetTestSuite = unittest.TestSuite()
Ezio Melottid59e44a2010-02-28 03:46:13 +0000435 widgetTestSuite.addTest(WidgetTestCase('test_default_size'))
436 widgetTestSuite.addTest(WidgetTestCase('test_resize'))
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000437
438For the ease of running tests, as we will see later, it is a good idea to
439provide in each test module a callable object that returns a pre-built test
440suite::
441
442 def suite():
443 suite = unittest.TestSuite()
Ezio Melottid59e44a2010-02-28 03:46:13 +0000444 suite.addTest(WidgetTestCase('test_default_size'))
445 suite.addTest(WidgetTestCase('test_resize'))
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000446 return suite
447
448or even::
449
450 def suite():
Ezio Melottid59e44a2010-02-28 03:46:13 +0000451 tests = ['test_default_size', 'test_resize']
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000452
453 return unittest.TestSuite(map(WidgetTestCase, tests))
454
455Since it is a common pattern to create a :class:`TestCase` subclass with many
456similarly named test functions, :mod:`unittest` provides a :class:`TestLoader`
457class that can be used to automate the process of creating a test suite and
458populating it with individual tests. For example, ::
459
460 suite = unittest.TestLoader().loadTestsFromTestCase(WidgetTestCase)
461
Ezio Melottid59e44a2010-02-28 03:46:13 +0000462will create a test suite that will run ``WidgetTestCase.test_default_size()`` and
463``WidgetTestCase.test_resize``. :class:`TestLoader` uses the ``'test'`` method
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000464name prefix to identify test methods automatically.
465
Mark Dickinsonc48d8342009-02-01 14:18:10 +0000466Note that the order in which the various test cases will be run is
467determined by sorting the test function names with respect to the
468built-in ordering for strings.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000469
470Often it is desirable to group suites of test cases together, so as to run tests
471for the whole system at once. This is easy, since :class:`TestSuite` instances
472can be added to a :class:`TestSuite` just as :class:`TestCase` instances can be
473added to a :class:`TestSuite`::
474
475 suite1 = module1.TheTestSuite()
476 suite2 = module2.TheTestSuite()
477 alltests = unittest.TestSuite([suite1, suite2])
478
479You can place the definitions of test cases and test suites in the same modules
480as the code they are to test (such as :file:`widget.py`), but there are several
481advantages to placing the test code in a separate module, such as
482:file:`test_widget.py`:
483
484* The test module can be run standalone from the command line.
485
486* The test code can more easily be separated from shipped code.
487
488* There is less temptation to change test code to fit the code it tests without
489 a good reason.
490
491* Test code should be modified much less frequently than the code it tests.
492
493* Tested code can be refactored more easily.
494
495* Tests for modules written in C must be in separate modules anyway, so why not
496 be consistent?
497
498* If the testing strategy changes, there is no need to change the source code.
499
500
501.. _legacy-unit-tests:
502
503Re-using old test code
504----------------------
505
506Some users will find that they have existing test code that they would like to
507run from :mod:`unittest`, without converting every old test function to a
508:class:`TestCase` subclass.
509
510For this reason, :mod:`unittest` provides a :class:`FunctionTestCase` class.
511This subclass of :class:`TestCase` can be used to wrap an existing test
512function. Set-up and tear-down functions can also be provided.
513
514Given the following test function::
515
516 def testSomething():
517 something = makeSomething()
518 assert something.name is not None
519 # ...
520
521one can create an equivalent test case instance as follows::
522
523 testcase = unittest.FunctionTestCase(testSomething)
524
525If there are additional set-up and tear-down methods that should be called as
526part of the test case's operation, they can also be provided like so::
527
528 testcase = unittest.FunctionTestCase(testSomething,
529 setUp=makeSomethingDB,
530 tearDown=deleteSomethingDB)
531
532To make migrating existing test suites easier, :mod:`unittest` supports tests
533raising :exc:`AssertionError` to indicate test failure. However, it is
534recommended that you use the explicit :meth:`TestCase.fail\*` and
535:meth:`TestCase.assert\*` methods instead, as future versions of :mod:`unittest`
536may treat :exc:`AssertionError` differently.
537
538.. note::
539
Benjamin Petersond2397752009-06-27 23:45:02 +0000540 Even though :class:`FunctionTestCase` can be used to quickly convert an
541 existing test base over to a :mod:`unittest`\ -based system, this approach is
542 not recommended. Taking the time to set up proper :class:`TestCase`
543 subclasses will make future test refactorings infinitely easier.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000544
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000545In some cases, the existing tests may have been written using the :mod:`doctest`
546module. If so, :mod:`doctest` provides a :class:`DocTestSuite` class that can
547automatically build :class:`unittest.TestSuite` instances from the existing
548:mod:`doctest`\ -based tests.
549
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000550
Benjamin Peterson5254c042009-03-23 22:25:03 +0000551.. _unittest-skipping:
552
553Skipping tests and expected failures
554------------------------------------
555
Michael Foordf5c851a2010-02-05 21:48:03 +0000556.. versionadded:: 3.1
557
Benjamin Peterson5254c042009-03-23 22:25:03 +0000558Unittest supports skipping individual test methods and even whole classes of
559tests. In addition, it supports marking a test as a "expected failure," a test
560that is broken and will fail, but shouldn't be counted as a failure on a
561:class:`TestResult`.
562
563Skipping a test is simply a matter of using the :func:`skip` :term:`decorator`
564or one of its conditional variants.
565
566Basic skipping looks like this: ::
567
568 class MyTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
569
570 @unittest.skip("demonstrating skipping")
571 def test_nothing(self):
572 self.fail("shouldn't happen")
573
Benjamin Petersond2397752009-06-27 23:45:02 +0000574 @unittest.skipIf(mylib.__version__ < (1, 3),
575 "not supported in this library version")
Benjamin Petersonded31c42009-03-30 15:04:16 +0000576 def test_format(self):
577 # Tests that work for only a certain version of the library.
578 pass
579
580 @unittest.skipUnless(sys.platform.startswith("win"), "requires Windows")
581 def test_windows_support(self):
582 # windows specific testing code
583 pass
584
Benjamin Peterson5254c042009-03-23 22:25:03 +0000585This is the output of running the example above in verbose mode: ::
586
Benjamin Petersonded31c42009-03-30 15:04:16 +0000587 test_format (__main__.MyTestCase) ... skipped 'not supported in this library version'
Benjamin Peterson5254c042009-03-23 22:25:03 +0000588 test_nothing (__main__.MyTestCase) ... skipped 'demonstrating skipping'
Benjamin Petersonded31c42009-03-30 15:04:16 +0000589 test_windows_support (__main__.MyTestCase) ... skipped 'requires Windows'
Benjamin Peterson5254c042009-03-23 22:25:03 +0000590
591 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Benjamin Petersonded31c42009-03-30 15:04:16 +0000592 Ran 3 tests in 0.005s
593
594 OK (skipped=3)
Benjamin Peterson5254c042009-03-23 22:25:03 +0000595
596Classes can be skipped just like methods: ::
597
598 @skip("showing class skipping")
599 class MySkippedTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
600 def test_not_run(self):
601 pass
602
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000603:meth:`TestCase.setUp` can also skip the test. This is useful when a resource
604that needs to be set up is not available.
605
Benjamin Peterson5254c042009-03-23 22:25:03 +0000606Expected failures use the :func:`expectedFailure` decorator. ::
607
608 class ExpectedFailureTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
609 @unittest.expectedFailure
610 def test_fail(self):
611 self.assertEqual(1, 0, "broken")
612
613It's easy to roll your own skipping decorators by making a decorator that calls
614:func:`skip` on the test when it wants it to be skipped. This decorator skips
615the test unless the passed object has a certain attribute: ::
616
617 def skipUnlessHasattr(obj, attr):
618 if hasattr(obj, attr):
619 return lambda func: func
620 return unittest.skip("{0!r} doesn't have {1!r}".format(obj, attr))
621
622The following decorators implement test skipping and expected failures:
623
Georg Brandl8a1caa22010-07-29 16:01:11 +0000624.. decorator:: skip(reason)
Benjamin Peterson5254c042009-03-23 22:25:03 +0000625
626 Unconditionally skip the decorated test. *reason* should describe why the
627 test is being skipped.
628
Georg Brandl8a1caa22010-07-29 16:01:11 +0000629.. decorator:: skipIf(condition, reason)
Benjamin Peterson5254c042009-03-23 22:25:03 +0000630
631 Skip the decorated test if *condition* is true.
632
Georg Brandl8a1caa22010-07-29 16:01:11 +0000633.. decorator:: skipUnless(condition, reason)
Benjamin Peterson5254c042009-03-23 22:25:03 +0000634
Georg Brandl6faee4e2010-09-21 14:48:28 +0000635 Skip the decorated test unless *condition* is true.
Benjamin Peterson5254c042009-03-23 22:25:03 +0000636
Georg Brandl8a1caa22010-07-29 16:01:11 +0000637.. decorator:: expectedFailure
Benjamin Peterson5254c042009-03-23 22:25:03 +0000638
639 Mark the test as an expected failure. If the test fails when run, the test
640 is not counted as a failure.
641
Benjamin Petersonb48af542010-04-11 20:43:16 +0000642Skipped tests will not have :meth:`setUp` or :meth:`tearDown` run around them.
643Skipped classes will not have :meth:`setUpClass` or :meth:`tearDownClass` run.
644
Benjamin Peterson5254c042009-03-23 22:25:03 +0000645
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000646.. _unittest-contents:
647
648Classes and functions
649---------------------
650
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000651This section describes in depth the API of :mod:`unittest`.
652
653
654.. _testcase-objects:
655
656Test cases
657~~~~~~~~~~
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000658
Georg Brandl7f01a132009-09-16 15:58:14 +0000659.. class:: TestCase(methodName='runTest')
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000660
661 Instances of the :class:`TestCase` class represent the smallest testable units
662 in the :mod:`unittest` universe. This class is intended to be used as a base
663 class, with specific tests being implemented by concrete subclasses. This class
664 implements the interface needed by the test runner to allow it to drive the
665 test, and methods that the test code can use to check for and report various
666 kinds of failure.
667
668 Each instance of :class:`TestCase` will run a single test method: the method
669 named *methodName*. If you remember, we had an earlier example that went
670 something like this::
671
672 def suite():
673 suite = unittest.TestSuite()
Ezio Melottid59e44a2010-02-28 03:46:13 +0000674 suite.addTest(WidgetTestCase('test_default_size'))
675 suite.addTest(WidgetTestCase('test_resize'))
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000676 return suite
677
678 Here, we create two instances of :class:`WidgetTestCase`, each of which runs a
679 single test.
680
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000681 *methodName* defaults to :meth:`runTest`.
682
683 :class:`TestCase` instances provide three groups of methods: one group used
684 to run the test, another used by the test implementation to check conditions
685 and report failures, and some inquiry methods allowing information about the
686 test itself to be gathered.
687
688 Methods in the first group (running the test) are:
689
690
691 .. method:: setUp()
692
693 Method called to prepare the test fixture. This is called immediately
694 before calling the test method; any exception raised by this method will
695 be considered an error rather than a test failure. The default
696 implementation does nothing.
697
698
699 .. method:: tearDown()
700
701 Method called immediately after the test method has been called and the
702 result recorded. This is called even if the test method raised an
703 exception, so the implementation in subclasses may need to be particularly
704 careful about checking internal state. Any exception raised by this
705 method will be considered an error rather than a test failure. This
706 method will only be called if the :meth:`setUp` succeeds, regardless of
707 the outcome of the test method. The default implementation does nothing.
708
709
Benjamin Petersonb48af542010-04-11 20:43:16 +0000710 .. method:: setUpClass()
711
712 A class method called before tests in an individual class run.
713 ``setUpClass`` is called with the class as the only argument
714 and must be decorated as a :func:`classmethod`::
715
716 @classmethod
717 def setUpClass(cls):
718 ...
719
720 See `Class and Module Fixtures`_ for more details.
721
722 .. versionadded:: 3.2
723
724
725 .. method:: tearDownClass()
726
727 A class method called after tests in an individual class have run.
728 ``tearDownClass`` is called with the class as the only argument
729 and must be decorated as a :meth:`classmethod`::
730
731 @classmethod
732 def tearDownClass(cls):
733 ...
734
735 See `Class and Module Fixtures`_ for more details.
736
737 .. versionadded:: 3.2
738
739
Georg Brandl7f01a132009-09-16 15:58:14 +0000740 .. method:: run(result=None)
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000741
742 Run the test, collecting the result into the test result object passed as
743 *result*. If *result* is omitted or :const:`None`, a temporary result
Alexandre Vassalotti260484d2009-07-17 11:43:26 +0000744 object is created (by calling the :meth:`defaultTestResult` method) and
745 used. The result object is not returned to :meth:`run`'s caller.
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000746
747 The same effect may be had by simply calling the :class:`TestCase`
748 instance.
749
750
Benjamin Petersone549ead2009-03-28 21:42:05 +0000751 .. method:: skipTest(reason)
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000752
Stefan Kraha5bf3f52010-05-19 16:09:41 +0000753 Calling this during a test method or :meth:`setUp` skips the current
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000754 test. See :ref:`unittest-skipping` for more information.
755
Ezio Melotti7afd3f52010-04-20 09:32:54 +0000756 .. versionadded:: 3.1
Benjamin Peterson08bf91c2010-04-11 16:12:57 +0000757
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000758
759 .. method:: debug()
760
761 Run the test without collecting the result. This allows exceptions raised
762 by the test to be propagated to the caller, and can be used to support
763 running tests under a debugger.
764
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000765
766
Ezio Melotti4370b302010-11-03 20:39:14 +0000767 The :class:`TestCase` class provides a number of methods to check for and
768 report failures, such as:
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000769
Ezio Melotti4370b302010-11-03 20:39:14 +0000770 +-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------+---------------+
771 | Method | Checks that | New in |
772 +=========================================+=============================+===============+
773 | :meth:`assertEqual(a, b) | ``a == b`` | |
774 | <TestCase.assertEqual>` | | |
775 +-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------+---------------+
776 | :meth:`assertNotEqual(a, b) | ``a != b`` | |
777 | <TestCase.assertNotEqual>` | | |
778 +-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------+---------------+
779 | :meth:`assertTrue(x) | ``bool(x) is True`` | |
780 | <TestCase.assertTrue>` | | |
781 +-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------+---------------+
782 | :meth:`assertFalse(x) | ``bool(x) is False`` | |
783 | <TestCase.assertFalse>` | | |
784 +-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------+---------------+
785 | :meth:`assertIs(a, b) | ``a is b`` | 3.1 |
786 | <TestCase.assertIs>` | | |
787 +-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------+---------------+
788 | :meth:`assertIsNot(a, b) | ``a is not b`` | 3.1 |
789 | <TestCase.assertIsNot>` | | |
790 +-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------+---------------+
791 | :meth:`assertIsNone(x) | ``x is None`` | 3.1 |
792 | <TestCase.assertIsNone>` | | |
793 +-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------+---------------+
794 | :meth:`assertIsNotNone(x) | ``x is not None`` | 3.1 |
795 | <TestCase.assertIsNotNone>` | | |
796 +-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------+---------------+
797 | :meth:`assertIn(a, b) | ``a in b`` | 3.1 |
798 | <TestCase.assertIn>` | | |
799 +-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------+---------------+
800 | :meth:`assertNotIn(a, b) | ``a not in b`` | 3.1 |
801 | <TestCase.assertNotIn>` | | |
802 +-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------+---------------+
803 | :meth:`assertIsInstance(a, b) | ``isinstance(a, b)`` | 3.2 |
804 | <TestCase.assertIsInstance>` | | |
805 +-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------+---------------+
806 | :meth:`assertNotIsInstance(a, b) | ``not isinstance(a, b)`` | 3.2 |
807 | <TestCase.assertNotIsInstance>` | | |
808 +-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------+---------------+
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +0000809
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000810
Georg Brandl7f01a132009-09-16 15:58:14 +0000811 .. method:: assertEqual(first, second, msg=None)
812 failUnlessEqual(first, second, msg=None)
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000813
814 Test that *first* and *second* are equal. If the values do not compare
815 equal, the test will fail with the explanation given by *msg*, or
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +0000816 :const:`None`. Note that using :meth:`assertEqual` improves upon
817 doing the comparison as the first parameter to :meth:`assertTrue`: the
818 default value for *msg* include representations of both *first* and
819 *second*.
820
821 In addition, if *first* and *second* are the exact same type and one of
Michael Foord02834952010-02-08 23:10:39 +0000822 list, tuple, dict, set, frozenset or str or any type that a subclass
823 registers with :meth:`addTypeEqualityFunc` the type specific equality
824 function will be called in order to generate a more useful default
825 error message.
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +0000826
Raymond Hettinger35a88362009-04-09 00:08:24 +0000827 .. versionchanged:: 3.1
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +0000828 Added the automatic calling of type specific equality function.
829
Michael Foord28a817e2010-02-09 00:03:57 +0000830 .. versionchanged:: 3.2
831 :meth:`assertMultiLineEqual` added as the default type equality
832 function for comparing strings.
Michael Foord02834952010-02-08 23:10:39 +0000833
Raymond Hettinger35a88362009-04-09 00:08:24 +0000834 .. deprecated:: 3.1
Georg Brandl89fad142010-03-14 10:23:39 +0000835 :meth:`failUnlessEqual`; use :meth:`assertEqual`.
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000836
837
Georg Brandl7f01a132009-09-16 15:58:14 +0000838 .. method:: assertNotEqual(first, second, msg=None)
839 failIfEqual(first, second, msg=None)
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000840
841 Test that *first* and *second* are not equal. If the values do compare
842 equal, the test will fail with the explanation given by *msg*, or
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +0000843 :const:`None`. Note that using :meth:`assertNotEqual` improves upon doing
844 the comparison as the first parameter to :meth:`assertTrue` is that the
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000845 default value for *msg* can be computed to include representations of both
846 *first* and *second*.
847
Raymond Hettinger35a88362009-04-09 00:08:24 +0000848 .. deprecated:: 3.1
Georg Brandl89fad142010-03-14 10:23:39 +0000849 :meth:`failIfEqual`; use :meth:`assertNotEqual`.
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +0000850
Benjamin Peterson70e32c82009-03-24 01:00:11 +0000851
Ezio Melotti4370b302010-11-03 20:39:14 +0000852 .. method:: assertTrue(expr, msg=None)
853 assert_(expr, msg=None)
854 failUnless(expr, msg=None)
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000855
Ezio Melotti4370b302010-11-03 20:39:14 +0000856 Signal a test failure if *expr* is false; the explanation for the failure
857 will be *msg* if given, otherwise it will be :const:`None`.
Benjamin Peterson4ac9ce42009-10-04 14:49:41 +0000858
Raymond Hettinger35a88362009-04-09 00:08:24 +0000859 .. deprecated:: 3.1
Ezio Melotti4370b302010-11-03 20:39:14 +0000860 :meth:`failUnless` and :meth:`assert_`; use :meth:`assertTrue`.
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +0000861
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000862
Ezio Melotti4370b302010-11-03 20:39:14 +0000863 .. method:: assertFalse(expr, msg=None)
864 failIf(expr, msg=None)
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000865
Ezio Melotti4370b302010-11-03 20:39:14 +0000866 The inverse of the :meth:`assertTrue` method is the :meth:`assertFalse` method.
867 This signals a test failure if *expr* is true, with *msg* or :const:`None`
868 for the error message.
Benjamin Peterson4ac9ce42009-10-04 14:49:41 +0000869
Raymond Hettinger35a88362009-04-09 00:08:24 +0000870 .. deprecated:: 3.1
Ezio Melotti4370b302010-11-03 20:39:14 +0000871 :meth:`failIf`; use :meth:`assertFalse`.
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +0000872
873
Ezio Melotti9794a262010-11-04 14:52:13 +0000874 .. method:: assertIs(first, second, msg=None)
875 assertIsNot(first, second, msg=None)
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +0000876
Ezio Melotti9794a262010-11-04 14:52:13 +0000877 Test that *first* and *second* evaluate (or don't evaluate) to the same object.
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +0000878
Raymond Hettinger35a88362009-04-09 00:08:24 +0000879 .. versionadded:: 3.1
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +0000880
881
Ezio Melotti4370b302010-11-03 20:39:14 +0000882 .. method:: assertIsNone(expr, msg=None)
Ezio Melotti9794a262010-11-04 14:52:13 +0000883 assertIsNotNone(expr, msg=None)
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +0000884
Ezio Melotti9794a262010-11-04 14:52:13 +0000885 Test that *expr* is (or is not) None.
Benjamin Petersonb48af542010-04-11 20:43:16 +0000886
Ezio Melotti4370b302010-11-03 20:39:14 +0000887 .. versionadded:: 3.1
Benjamin Petersonb48af542010-04-11 20:43:16 +0000888
889
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +0000890 .. method:: assertIn(first, second, msg=None)
891 assertNotIn(first, second, msg=None)
892
Ezio Melotti9794a262010-11-04 14:52:13 +0000893 Test that *first* is (or is not) in *second* with an explanatory error
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +0000894 message as appropriate.
895
Michael Foordabd91d52010-03-20 18:09:14 +0000896 If specified, *msg* will be used as the error message on failure.
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +0000897
Raymond Hettinger35a88362009-04-09 00:08:24 +0000898 .. versionadded:: 3.1
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +0000899
900
Ezio Melotti9c02c2f2010-11-03 20:45:31 +0000901 .. method:: assertIsInstance(obj, cls, msg=None)
Ezio Melotti9794a262010-11-04 14:52:13 +0000902 assertNotIsInstance(obj, cls, msg=None)
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +0000903
Ezio Melotti9794a262010-11-04 14:52:13 +0000904 Test that *obj* is (or is not) an instance of *cls* (which can be a
905 class or a tuple of classes, as supported by :func:`isinstance`).
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +0000906
Ezio Melotti4370b302010-11-03 20:39:14 +0000907 .. versionadded:: 3.2
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +0000908
909
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +0000910
Ezio Melotti4370b302010-11-03 20:39:14 +0000911 It is also possible to check that exceptions and warnings are raised using
912 the following methods:
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +0000913
914
Ezio Melotti4370b302010-11-03 20:39:14 +0000915 +---------------------------------------------------------+--------------------------------------+------------+
916 | Method | Checks that | New in |
917 +=========================================================+======================================+============+
918 | :meth:`assertRaises(exc, fun, *args, **kwds) | ``fun(*args, **kwds)`` raises `exc` | |
919 | <TestCase.assertRaises>` | | |
920 +---------------------------------------------------------+--------------------------------------+------------+
921 | :meth:`assertRaisesRegexp(exc, re, fun, *args, **kwds) | ``fun(*args, **kwds)`` raises `exc` | 3.1 |
922 | <TestCase.assertRaisesRegexp>` | and the message matches `re` | |
923 +---------------------------------------------------------+--------------------------------------+------------+
924 | :meth:`assertWarns(warn, fun, *args, **kwds) | ``fun(*args, **kwds)`` raises `warn` | 3.2 |
925 | <TestCase.assertWarns>` | | |
926 +---------------------------------------------------------+--------------------------------------+------------+
927 | :meth:`assertWarnsRegexp(warn, re, fun, *args, **kwds) | ``fun(*args, **kwds)`` raises `warn` | 3.2 |
928 | <TestCase.assertWarnsRegexp>` | and the message matches `re` | |
929 +---------------------------------------------------------+--------------------------------------+------------+
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000930
Georg Brandl7f01a132009-09-16 15:58:14 +0000931 .. method:: assertRaises(exception, callable, *args, **kwds)
932 failUnlessRaises(exception, callable, *args, **kwds)
933 assertRaises(exception)
934 failUnlessRaises(exception)
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000935
936 Test that an exception is raised when *callable* is called with any
937 positional or keyword arguments that are also passed to
938 :meth:`assertRaises`. The test passes if *exception* is raised, is an
939 error if another exception is raised, or fails if no exception is raised.
940 To catch any of a group of exceptions, a tuple containing the exception
941 classes may be passed as *exception*.
942
Georg Brandl7f01a132009-09-16 15:58:14 +0000943 If only the *exception* argument is given, returns a context manager so
944 that the code under test can be written inline rather than as a function::
Benjamin Petersonded31c42009-03-30 15:04:16 +0000945
Michael Foord41531f22010-02-05 21:13:40 +0000946 with self.assertRaises(SomeException):
Benjamin Petersonded31c42009-03-30 15:04:16 +0000947 do_something()
948
Kristján Valur Jónsson92a653a2009-11-13 16:10:13 +0000949 The context manager will store the caught exception object in its
Ezio Melotti49008232010-02-08 21:57:48 +0000950 :attr:`exception` attribute. This can be useful if the intention
Michael Foord41531f22010-02-05 21:13:40 +0000951 is to perform additional checks on the exception raised::
Kristján Valur Jónsson92a653a2009-11-13 16:10:13 +0000952
Georg Brandl8a1caa22010-07-29 16:01:11 +0000953 with self.assertRaises(SomeException) as cm:
954 do_something()
Michael Foord41531f22010-02-05 21:13:40 +0000955
Georg Brandl8a1caa22010-07-29 16:01:11 +0000956 the_exception = cm.exception
957 self.assertEqual(the_exception.error_code, 3)
Michael Foord41531f22010-02-05 21:13:40 +0000958
Ezio Melotti49008232010-02-08 21:57:48 +0000959 .. versionchanged:: 3.1
Benjamin Petersonded31c42009-03-30 15:04:16 +0000960 Added the ability to use :meth:`assertRaises` as a context manager.
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000961
Ezio Melotti49008232010-02-08 21:57:48 +0000962 .. versionchanged:: 3.2
963 Added the :attr:`exception` attribute.
964
Raymond Hettinger35a88362009-04-09 00:08:24 +0000965 .. deprecated:: 3.1
Georg Brandl89fad142010-03-14 10:23:39 +0000966 :meth:`failUnlessRaises`; use :meth:`assertRaises`.
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000967
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +0000968
Ezio Melotti327433f2010-11-03 20:51:17 +0000969 .. method:: assertRaisesRegexp(exception, regexp, callable, *args, **kwds)
970 assertRaisesRegexp(exception, regexp)
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +0000971
972 Like :meth:`assertRaises` but also tests that *regexp* matches
973 on the string representation of the raised exception. *regexp* may be
974 a regular expression object or a string containing a regular expression
975 suitable for use by :func:`re.search`. Examples::
976
977 self.assertRaisesRegexp(ValueError, 'invalid literal for.*XYZ$',
978 int, 'XYZ')
979
980 or::
981
982 with self.assertRaisesRegexp(ValueError, 'literal'):
983 int('XYZ')
984
Raymond Hettinger35a88362009-04-09 00:08:24 +0000985 .. versionadded:: 3.1
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +0000986
987
Antoine Pitrou4bc12ef2010-09-06 19:25:46 +0000988 .. method:: assertWarns(warning, callable, *args, **kwds)
989 assertWarns(warning)
990
991 Test that a warning is triggered when *callable* is called with any
992 positional or keyword arguments that are also passed to
993 :meth:`assertWarns`. The test passes if *warning* is triggered and
994 fails if it isn't. Also, any unexpected exception is an error.
995 To catch any of a group of warnings, a tuple containing the warning
996 classes may be passed as *warnings*.
997
998 If only the *warning* argument is given, returns a context manager so
999 that the code under test can be written inline rather than as a function::
1000
1001 with self.assertWarns(SomeWarning):
1002 do_something()
1003
1004 The context manager will store the caught warning object in its
1005 :attr:`warning` attribute, and the source line which triggered the
1006 warnings in the :attr:`filename` and :attr:`lineno` attributes.
1007 This can be useful if the intention is to perform additional checks
1008 on the exception raised::
1009
1010 with self.assertWarns(SomeWarning) as cm:
1011 do_something()
1012
1013 self.assertIn('myfile.py', cm.filename)
1014 self.assertEqual(320, cm.lineno)
1015
1016 This method works regardless of the warning filters in place when it
1017 is called.
1018
1019 .. versionadded:: 3.2
1020
1021
Ezio Melotti327433f2010-11-03 20:51:17 +00001022 .. method:: assertWarnsRegexp(warning, regexp, callable, *args, **kwds)
1023 assertWarnsRegexp(warning, regexp)
Antoine Pitrou4bc12ef2010-09-06 19:25:46 +00001024
1025 Like :meth:`assertWarns` but also tests that *regexp* matches on the
1026 message of the triggered warning. *regexp* may be a regular expression
1027 object or a string containing a regular expression suitable for use
1028 by :func:`re.search`. Example::
1029
1030 self.assertWarnsRegexp(DeprecationWarning,
1031 r'legacy_function\(\) is deprecated',
1032 legacy_function, 'XYZ')
1033
1034 or::
1035
1036 with self.assertWarnsRegexp(RuntimeWarning, 'unsafe frobnicating'):
1037 frobnicate('/etc/passwd')
1038
1039 .. versionadded:: 3.2
1040
1041
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +00001042
Ezio Melotti4370b302010-11-03 20:39:14 +00001043 There are also other methods used to perform more specific checks, such as:
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +00001044
Ezio Melotti4370b302010-11-03 20:39:14 +00001045 +---------------------------------------+--------------------------------+--------------+
1046 | Method | Checks that | New in |
1047 +=======================================+================================+==============+
1048 | :meth:`assertAlmostEqual(a, b) | ``round(a-b, 7) == 0`` | |
1049 | <TestCase.assertAlmostEqual>` | | |
1050 +---------------------------------------+--------------------------------+--------------+
1051 | :meth:`assertNotAlmostEqual(a, b) | ``round(a-b, 7) != 0`` | |
1052 | <TestCase.assertNotAlmostEqual>` | | |
1053 +---------------------------------------+--------------------------------+--------------+
1054 | :meth:`assertGreater(a, b) | ``a > b`` | 3.1 |
1055 | <TestCase.assertGreater>` | | |
1056 +---------------------------------------+--------------------------------+--------------+
1057 | :meth:`assertGreaterEqual(a, b) | ``a >= b`` | 3.1 |
1058 | <TestCase.assertGreaterEqual>` | | |
1059 +---------------------------------------+--------------------------------+--------------+
1060 | :meth:`assertLess(a, b) | ``a < b`` | 3.1 |
1061 | <TestCase.assertLess>` | | |
1062 +---------------------------------------+--------------------------------+--------------+
1063 | :meth:`assertLessEqual(a, b) | ``a <= b`` | 3.1 |
1064 | <TestCase.assertLessEqual>` | | |
1065 +---------------------------------------+--------------------------------+--------------+
1066 | :meth:`assertRegexpMatches(s, re) | ``regex.search(s)`` | 3.1 |
1067 | <TestCase.assertRegexpMatches>` | | |
1068 +---------------------------------------+--------------------------------+--------------+
1069 | :meth:`assertNotRegexpMatches(s, re) | ``not regex.search(s)`` | 3.2 |
1070 | <TestCase.assertNotRegexpMatches>` | | |
1071 +---------------------------------------+--------------------------------+--------------+
1072 | :meth:`assertDictContainsSubset(a, b) | all the key/value pairs | 3.1 |
1073 | <TestCase.assertDictContainsSubset>` | in `a` exist in `b` | |
1074 +---------------------------------------+--------------------------------+--------------+
1075 | :meth:`assertItemsEqual(a, b) | `a` and `b` have the same | 3.2 |
1076 | <TestCase.assertItemsEqual>` | elements in the same number, | |
1077 | | regardless of their order | |
1078 +---------------------------------------+--------------------------------+--------------+
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +00001079
1080
Ezio Melotti4370b302010-11-03 20:39:14 +00001081 .. method:: assertAlmostEqual(first, second, places=7, msg=None, delta=None)
1082 failUnlessAlmostEqual(first, second, places=7, msg=None, delta=None)
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +00001083
Ezio Melotti4370b302010-11-03 20:39:14 +00001084 Test that *first* and *second* are approximately equal by computing the
1085 difference, rounding to the given number of decimal *places* (default 7),
1086 and comparing to zero.
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +00001087
Ezio Melotti4370b302010-11-03 20:39:14 +00001088 Note that comparing a given number of decimal places is not the same as
1089 comparing a given number of significant digits. If the values do not
1090 compare equal, the test will fail with the explanation given by *msg*, or
1091 :const:`None`.
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +00001092
Ezio Melotti4370b302010-11-03 20:39:14 +00001093 If *delta* is supplied instead of *places* then the difference
1094 between *first* and *second* must be less than *delta*.
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +00001095
Ezio Melotti4370b302010-11-03 20:39:14 +00001096 Supplying both *delta* and *places* raises a ``TypeError``.
Benjamin Petersonf47ed4a2009-04-11 20:45:40 +00001097
Ezio Melotti4370b302010-11-03 20:39:14 +00001098 .. versionchanged:: 3.2
1099 Objects that compare equal are automatically almost equal.
1100 Added the ``delta`` keyword argument.
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +00001101
Raymond Hettinger35a88362009-04-09 00:08:24 +00001102 .. deprecated:: 3.1
Ezio Melotti4370b302010-11-03 20:39:14 +00001103 :meth:`failUnlessAlmostEqual`; use :meth:`assertAlmostEqual`.
1104
1105
1106 .. method:: assertNotAlmostEqual(first, second, places=7, msg=None, delta=None)
1107 failIfAlmostEqual(first, second, places=7, msg=None, delta=None)
1108
1109 Test that *first* and *second* are not approximately equal by computing
1110 the difference, rounding to the given number of decimal *places* (default
1111 7), and comparing to zero.
1112
1113 Note that comparing a given number of decimal places is not the same as
1114 comparing a given number of significant digits. If the values do not
1115 compare equal, the test will fail with the explanation given by *msg*, or
1116 :const:`None`.
1117
1118 If *delta* is supplied instead of *places* then the difference
1119 between *first* and *second* must be more than *delta*.
1120
1121 Supplying both *delta* and *places* raises a ``TypeError``.
1122
1123 .. versionchanged:: 3.2
1124 Objects that compare equal automatically fail. Added the ``delta``
1125 keyword argument.
1126
1127 .. deprecated:: 3.1
1128 :meth:`failIfAlmostEqual`; use :meth:`assertNotAlmostEqual`.
1129
1130
1131 .. method:: assertGreater(first, second, msg=None)
1132 assertGreaterEqual(first, second, msg=None)
1133 assertLess(first, second, msg=None)
1134 assertLessEqual(first, second, msg=None)
1135
1136 Test that *first* is respectively >, >=, < or <= than *second* depending
1137 on the method name. If not, the test will fail with an explanation
1138 or with the explanation given by *msg*::
1139
1140 >>> self.assertGreaterEqual(3, 4)
1141 AssertionError: "3" unexpectedly not greater than or equal to "4"
1142
1143 .. versionadded:: 3.1
1144
1145
1146 .. method:: assertRegexpMatches(text, regexp, msg=None)
1147
1148 Verifies that a *regexp* search matches *text*. Fails with an error
1149 message including the pattern and the *text*. *regexp* may be
1150 a regular expression object or a string containing a regular expression
1151 suitable for use by :func:`re.search`.
1152
1153 .. versionadded:: 3.1
1154
1155
1156 .. method:: assertNotRegexpMatches(text, regexp, msg=None)
1157
1158 Verifies that a *regexp* search does not match *text*. Fails with an error
1159 message including the pattern and the part of *text* that matches. *regexp*
1160 may be a regular expression object or a string containing a regular
1161 expression suitable for use by :func:`re.search`.
1162
1163 .. versionadded:: 3.2
1164
1165
1166 .. method:: assertDictContainsSubset(expected, actual, msg=None)
1167
1168 Tests whether the key/value pairs in dictionary *actual* are a
1169 superset of those in *expected*. If not, an error message listing
1170 the missing keys and mismatched values is generated.
1171
1172 If specified, *msg* will be used as the error message on failure.
1173
1174 .. versionadded:: 3.1
1175
1176
1177 .. method:: assertItemsEqual(actual, expected, msg=None)
1178
1179 Test that sequence *expected* contains the same elements as *actual*,
1180 regardless of their order. When they don't, an error message listing the
1181 differences between the sequences will be generated.
1182
1183 Duplicate elements are *not* ignored when comparing *actual* and
1184 *expected*. It verifies if each element has the same count in both
1185 sequences. It is the equivalent of ``assertEqual(sorted(expected),
1186 sorted(actual))`` but it works with sequences of unhashable objects as
1187 well.
1188
1189 If specified, *msg* will be used as the error message on failure.
1190
1191 .. versionadded:: 3.2
1192
1193
1194 .. method:: assertSameElements(actual, expected, msg=None)
1195
1196 Test that sequence *expected* contains the same elements as *actual*,
1197 regardless of their order. When they don't, an error message listing
1198 the differences between the sequences will be generated.
1199
1200 Duplicate elements are ignored when comparing *actual* and *expected*.
1201 It is the equivalent of ``assertEqual(set(expected), set(actual))``
1202 but it works with sequences of unhashable objects as well. Because
1203 duplicates are ignored, this method has been deprecated in favour of
1204 :meth:`assertItemsEqual`.
1205
1206 If specified, *msg* will be used as the error message on failure.
1207
1208 .. versionadded:: 3.1
1209 .. deprecated:: 3.2
1210
1211
1212
1213 The following methods are used automatically by :meth:`~TestCase.assertEqual`
1214 and usually is not necessary to invoke them directly:
1215
1216 +-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------+--------------+
1217 | Method | Used to compare | New in |
1218 +=========================================+=============================+==============+
1219 | :meth:`assertMultiLineEqual(a, b) | strings | 3.1 |
1220 | <TestCase.assertMultiLineEqual>` | | |
1221 +-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------+--------------+
1222 | :meth:`assertSequenceEqual(a, b) | sequences | 3.1 |
1223 | <TestCase.assertSequenceEqual>` | | |
1224 +-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------+--------------+
1225 | :meth:`assertListEqual(a, b) | lists | 3.1 |
1226 | <TestCase.assertListEqual>` | | |
1227 +-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------+--------------+
1228 | :meth:`assertTupleEqual(a, b) | tuples | 3.1 |
1229 | <TestCase.assertTupleEqual>` | | |
1230 +-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------+--------------+
1231 | :meth:`assertSetEqual(a, b) | sets or frozensets | 3.1 |
1232 | <TestCase.assertSetEqual>` | | |
1233 +-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------+--------------+
1234 | :meth:`assertDictEqual(a, b) | dicts | 3.1 |
1235 | <TestCase.assertDictEqual>` | | |
1236 +-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------+--------------+
1237
1238
1239
Ezio Melotti9c02c2f2010-11-03 20:45:31 +00001240 .. method:: assertMultiLineEqual(first, second, msg=None)
Ezio Melotti4370b302010-11-03 20:39:14 +00001241
1242 Test that the multiline string *first* is equal to the string *second*.
1243 When not equal a diff of the two strings highlighting the differences
1244 will be included in the error message. This method is used by default
1245 when comparing strings with :meth:`assertEqual`.
1246
1247 If specified, *msg* will be used as the error message on failure.
1248
1249 .. versionadded:: 3.1
1250
1251
1252 .. method:: assertSequenceEqual(seq1, seq2, msg=None, seq_type=None)
1253
1254 Tests that two sequences are equal. If a *seq_type* is supplied, both
1255 *seq1* and *seq2* must be instances of *seq_type* or a failure will
1256 be raised. If the sequences are different an error message is
1257 constructed that shows the difference between the two.
1258
1259 If specified, *msg* will be used as the error message on failure.
1260
1261 This method is used to implement :meth:`assertListEqual` and
1262 :meth:`assertTupleEqual`.
1263
1264 .. versionadded:: 3.1
1265
1266
1267 .. method:: assertListEqual(list1, list2, msg=None)
1268 assertTupleEqual(tuple1, tuple2, msg=None)
1269
1270 Tests that two lists or tuples are equal. If not an error message is
1271 constructed that shows only the differences between the two. An error
1272 is also raised if either of the parameters are of the wrong type.
1273 These methods are used by default when comparing lists or tuples with
1274 :meth:`assertEqual`.
1275
1276 If specified, *msg* will be used as the error message on failure.
1277
1278 .. versionadded:: 3.1
1279
1280
1281 .. method:: assertSetEqual(set1, set2, msg=None)
1282
1283 Tests that two sets are equal. If not, an error message is constructed
1284 that lists the differences between the sets. This method is used by
1285 default when comparing sets or frozensets with :meth:`assertEqual`.
1286
1287 Fails if either of *set1* or *set2* does not have a :meth:`set.difference`
1288 method.
1289
1290 If specified, *msg* will be used as the error message on failure.
1291
1292 .. versionadded:: 3.1
1293
1294
1295 .. method:: assertDictEqual(expected, actual, msg=None)
1296
1297 Test that two dictionaries are equal. If not, an error message is
1298 constructed that shows the differences in the dictionaries. This
1299 method will be used by default to compare dictionaries in
1300 calls to :meth:`assertEqual`.
1301
1302 If specified, *msg* will be used as the error message on failure.
1303
1304 .. versionadded:: 3.1
1305
1306
1307
1308 Finally the :class:`TestCase` provides the following methods and attributes:
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +00001309
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +00001310
Georg Brandl7f01a132009-09-16 15:58:14 +00001311 .. method:: fail(msg=None)
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +00001312
1313 Signals a test failure unconditionally, with *msg* or :const:`None` for
1314 the error message.
1315
1316
1317 .. attribute:: failureException
1318
1319 This class attribute gives the exception raised by the test method. If a
1320 test framework needs to use a specialized exception, possibly to carry
1321 additional information, it must subclass this exception in order to "play
1322 fair" with the framework. The initial value of this attribute is
1323 :exc:`AssertionError`.
1324
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +00001325
1326 .. attribute:: longMessage
1327
1328 If set to True then any explicit failure message you pass in to the
1329 assert methods will be appended to the end of the normal failure message.
1330 The normal messages contain useful information about the objects involved,
1331 for example the message from assertEqual shows you the repr of the two
1332 unequal objects. Setting this attribute to True allows you to have a
1333 custom error message in addition to the normal one.
1334
1335 This attribute defaults to False, meaning that a custom message passed
1336 to an assert method will silence the normal message.
1337
1338 The class setting can be overridden in individual tests by assigning an
1339 instance attribute to True or False before calling the assert methods.
1340
Raymond Hettinger35a88362009-04-09 00:08:24 +00001341 .. versionadded:: 3.1
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +00001342
1343
Michael Foord98b3e762010-06-05 21:59:55 +00001344 .. attribute:: maxDiff
1345
1346 This attribute controls the maximum length of diffs output by assert
1347 methods that report diffs on failure. It defaults to 80*8 characters.
1348 Assert methods affected by this attribute are
1349 :meth:`assertSequenceEqual` (including all the sequence comparison
1350 methods that delegate to it), :meth:`assertDictEqual` and
1351 :meth:`assertMultiLineEqual`.
1352
1353 Setting ``maxDiff`` to None means that there is no maximum length of
1354 diffs.
1355
1356 .. versionadded:: 3.2
1357
1358
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +00001359 Testing frameworks can use the following methods to collect information on
1360 the test:
1361
1362
1363 .. method:: countTestCases()
1364
1365 Return the number of tests represented by this test object. For
1366 :class:`TestCase` instances, this will always be ``1``.
1367
1368
1369 .. method:: defaultTestResult()
1370
1371 Return an instance of the test result class that should be used for this
1372 test case class (if no other result instance is provided to the
1373 :meth:`run` method).
1374
1375 For :class:`TestCase` instances, this will always be an instance of
1376 :class:`TestResult`; subclasses of :class:`TestCase` should override this
1377 as necessary.
1378
1379
1380 .. method:: id()
1381
1382 Return a string identifying the specific test case. This is usually the
1383 full name of the test method, including the module and class name.
1384
1385
1386 .. method:: shortDescription()
1387
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +00001388 Returns a description of the test, or :const:`None` if no description
1389 has been provided. The default implementation of this method
1390 returns the first line of the test method's docstring, if available,
Michael Foord34c94622010-02-10 15:51:42 +00001391 or :const:`None`.
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +00001392
Michael Foord34c94622010-02-10 15:51:42 +00001393 .. versionchanged:: 3.1,3.2
1394 In 3.1 this was changed to add the test name to the short description
1395 even in the presence of a docstring. This caused compatibility issues
1396 with unittest extensions and adding the test name was moved to the
1397 :class:`TextTestResult`.
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +00001398
1399 .. method:: addTypeEqualityFunc(typeobj, function)
1400
1401 Registers a type specific :meth:`assertEqual` equality checking
1402 function to be called by :meth:`assertEqual` when both objects it has
1403 been asked to compare are exactly *typeobj* (not subclasses).
1404 *function* must take two positional arguments and a third msg=None
1405 keyword argument just as :meth:`assertEqual` does. It must raise
Benjamin Petersonf47ed4a2009-04-11 20:45:40 +00001406 ``self.failureException`` when inequality between the first two
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +00001407 parameters is detected.
1408
1409 One good use of custom equality checking functions for a type
Benjamin Petersonf47ed4a2009-04-11 20:45:40 +00001410 is to raise ``self.failureException`` with an error message useful
1411 for debugging the problem by explaining the inequalities in detail.
Benjamin Peterson7fe73a12009-04-04 16:35:46 +00001412
Raymond Hettinger35a88362009-04-09 00:08:24 +00001413 .. versionadded:: 3.1
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001414
1415
Georg Brandl7f01a132009-09-16 15:58:14 +00001416 .. method:: addCleanup(function, *args, **kwargs)
Benjamin Peterson25c95f12009-05-08 20:42:26 +00001417
1418 Add a function to be called after :meth:`tearDown` to cleanup resources
1419 used during the test. Functions will be called in reverse order to the
1420 order they are added (LIFO). They are called with any arguments and
1421 keyword arguments passed into :meth:`addCleanup` when they are
1422 added.
1423
1424 If :meth:`setUp` fails, meaning that :meth:`tearDown` is not called,
1425 then any cleanup functions added will still be called.
1426
Georg Brandl853947a2010-01-31 18:53:23 +00001427 .. versionadded:: 3.2
Benjamin Peterson25c95f12009-05-08 20:42:26 +00001428
1429
1430 .. method:: doCleanups()
1431
Barry Warsaw0c9fd632010-04-12 14:50:57 +00001432 This method is called unconditionally after :meth:`tearDown`, or
Benjamin Peterson25c95f12009-05-08 20:42:26 +00001433 after :meth:`setUp` if :meth:`setUp` raises an exception.
1434
1435 It is responsible for calling all the cleanup functions added by
1436 :meth:`addCleanup`. If you need cleanup functions to be called
1437 *prior* to :meth:`tearDown` then you can call :meth:`doCleanups`
1438 yourself.
1439
1440 :meth:`doCleanups` pops methods off the stack of cleanup
1441 functions one at a time, so it can be called at any time.
1442
Georg Brandl853947a2010-01-31 18:53:23 +00001443 .. versionadded:: 3.2
Benjamin Peterson25c95f12009-05-08 20:42:26 +00001444
1445
Georg Brandl7f01a132009-09-16 15:58:14 +00001446.. class:: FunctionTestCase(testFunc, setUp=None, tearDown=None, description=None)
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001447
1448 This class implements the portion of the :class:`TestCase` interface which
Benjamin Petersond2397752009-06-27 23:45:02 +00001449 allows the test runner to drive the test, but does not provide the methods
1450 which test code can use to check and report errors. This is used to create
1451 test cases using legacy test code, allowing it to be integrated into a
1452 :mod:`unittest`-based test framework.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001453
1454
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +00001455.. _testsuite-objects:
1456
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +00001457Grouping tests
1458~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1459
Georg Brandl7f01a132009-09-16 15:58:14 +00001460.. class:: TestSuite(tests=())
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001461
1462 This class represents an aggregation of individual tests cases and test suites.
1463 The class presents the interface needed by the test runner to allow it to be run
1464 as any other test case. Running a :class:`TestSuite` instance is the same as
1465 iterating over the suite, running each test individually.
1466
1467 If *tests* is given, it must be an iterable of individual test cases or other
1468 test suites that will be used to build the suite initially. Additional methods
1469 are provided to add test cases and suites to the collection later on.
1470
Benjamin Peterson14a3dd72009-05-25 00:51:58 +00001471 :class:`TestSuite` objects behave much like :class:`TestCase` objects, except
1472 they do not actually implement a test. Instead, they are used to aggregate
1473 tests into groups of tests that should be run together. Some additional
1474 methods are available to add tests to :class:`TestSuite` instances:
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +00001475
1476
1477 .. method:: TestSuite.addTest(test)
1478
1479 Add a :class:`TestCase` or :class:`TestSuite` to the suite.
1480
1481
1482 .. method:: TestSuite.addTests(tests)
1483
1484 Add all the tests from an iterable of :class:`TestCase` and :class:`TestSuite`
1485 instances to this test suite.
1486
Benjamin Petersond2397752009-06-27 23:45:02 +00001487 This is equivalent to iterating over *tests*, calling :meth:`addTest` for
1488 each element.
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +00001489
1490 :class:`TestSuite` shares the following methods with :class:`TestCase`:
1491
1492
1493 .. method:: run(result)
1494
1495 Run the tests associated with this suite, collecting the result into the
1496 test result object passed as *result*. Note that unlike
1497 :meth:`TestCase.run`, :meth:`TestSuite.run` requires the result object to
1498 be passed in.
1499
1500
1501 .. method:: debug()
1502
1503 Run the tests associated with this suite without collecting the
1504 result. This allows exceptions raised by the test to be propagated to the
1505 caller and can be used to support running tests under a debugger.
1506
1507
1508 .. method:: countTestCases()
1509
1510 Return the number of tests represented by this test object, including all
1511 individual tests and sub-suites.
1512
Benjamin Peterson25c95f12009-05-08 20:42:26 +00001513
1514 .. method:: __iter__()
1515
1516 Tests grouped by a :class:`TestSuite` are always accessed by iteration.
1517 Subclasses can lazily provide tests by overriding :meth:`__iter__`. Note
1518 that this method maybe called several times on a single suite
1519 (for example when counting tests or comparing for equality)
1520 so the tests returned must be the same for repeated iterations.
1521
Georg Brandl853947a2010-01-31 18:53:23 +00001522 .. versionchanged:: 3.2
Benjamin Peterson25c95f12009-05-08 20:42:26 +00001523 In earlier versions the :class:`TestSuite` accessed tests directly rather
1524 than through iteration, so overriding :meth:`__iter__` wasn't sufficient
1525 for providing tests.
1526
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +00001527 In the typical usage of a :class:`TestSuite` object, the :meth:`run` method
1528 is invoked by a :class:`TestRunner` rather than by the end-user test harness.
1529
1530
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +00001531Loading and running tests
1532~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1533
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001534.. class:: TestLoader()
1535
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +00001536 The :class:`TestLoader` class is used to create test suites from classes and
1537 modules. Normally, there is no need to create an instance of this class; the
1538 :mod:`unittest` module provides an instance that can be shared as
1539 ``unittest.defaultTestLoader``. Using a subclass or instance, however, allows
1540 customization of some configurable properties.
1541
1542 :class:`TestLoader` objects have the following methods:
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001543
Ezio Melotti9c02c2f2010-11-03 20:45:31 +00001544
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +00001545 .. method:: loadTestsFromTestCase(testCaseClass)
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001546
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +00001547 Return a suite of all tests cases contained in the :class:`TestCase`\ -derived
1548 :class:`testCaseClass`.
1549
1550
1551 .. method:: loadTestsFromModule(module)
1552
1553 Return a suite of all tests cases contained in the given module. This
1554 method searches *module* for classes derived from :class:`TestCase` and
1555 creates an instance of the class for each test method defined for the
1556 class.
1557
Georg Brandle720c0a2009-04-27 16:20:50 +00001558 .. note::
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +00001559
1560 While using a hierarchy of :class:`TestCase`\ -derived classes can be
1561 convenient in sharing fixtures and helper functions, defining test
1562 methods on base classes that are not intended to be instantiated
1563 directly does not play well with this method. Doing so, however, can
1564 be useful when the fixtures are different and defined in subclasses.
1565
Benjamin Petersond2397752009-06-27 23:45:02 +00001566 If a module provides a ``load_tests`` function it will be called to
1567 load the tests. This allows modules to customize test loading.
1568 This is the `load_tests protocol`_.
1569
Georg Brandl853947a2010-01-31 18:53:23 +00001570 .. versionchanged:: 3.2
Benjamin Petersond2397752009-06-27 23:45:02 +00001571 Support for ``load_tests`` added.
1572
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +00001573
Georg Brandl7f01a132009-09-16 15:58:14 +00001574 .. method:: loadTestsFromName(name, module=None)
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +00001575
1576 Return a suite of all tests cases given a string specifier.
1577
1578 The specifier *name* is a "dotted name" that may resolve either to a
1579 module, a test case class, a test method within a test case class, a
1580 :class:`TestSuite` instance, or a callable object which returns a
1581 :class:`TestCase` or :class:`TestSuite` instance. These checks are
1582 applied in the order listed here; that is, a method on a possible test
1583 case class will be picked up as "a test method within a test case class",
1584 rather than "a callable object".
1585
1586 For example, if you have a module :mod:`SampleTests` containing a
1587 :class:`TestCase`\ -derived class :class:`SampleTestCase` with three test
1588 methods (:meth:`test_one`, :meth:`test_two`, and :meth:`test_three`), the
Benjamin Petersond2397752009-06-27 23:45:02 +00001589 specifier ``'SampleTests.SampleTestCase'`` would cause this method to
1590 return a suite which will run all three test methods. Using the specifier
1591 ``'SampleTests.SampleTestCase.test_two'`` would cause it to return a test
1592 suite which will run only the :meth:`test_two` test method. The specifier
1593 can refer to modules and packages which have not been imported; they will
1594 be imported as a side-effect.
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +00001595
1596 The method optionally resolves *name* relative to the given *module*.
1597
1598
Georg Brandl7f01a132009-09-16 15:58:14 +00001599 .. method:: loadTestsFromNames(names, module=None)
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +00001600
1601 Similar to :meth:`loadTestsFromName`, but takes a sequence of names rather
1602 than a single name. The return value is a test suite which supports all
1603 the tests defined for each name.
1604
1605
1606 .. method:: getTestCaseNames(testCaseClass)
1607
1608 Return a sorted sequence of method names found within *testCaseClass*;
1609 this should be a subclass of :class:`TestCase`.
1610
Benjamin Petersond2397752009-06-27 23:45:02 +00001611
1612 .. method:: discover(start_dir, pattern='test*.py', top_level_dir=None)
1613
1614 Find and return all test modules from the specified start directory,
1615 recursing into subdirectories to find them. Only test files that match
Benjamin Peterson4ac9ce42009-10-04 14:49:41 +00001616 *pattern* will be loaded. (Using shell style pattern matching.) Only
1617 module names that are importable (i.e. are valid Python identifiers) will
1618 be loaded.
Benjamin Petersond2397752009-06-27 23:45:02 +00001619
1620 All test modules must be importable from the top level of the project. If
1621 the start directory is not the top level directory then the top level
1622 directory must be specified separately.
1623
Benjamin Peterson4ac9ce42009-10-04 14:49:41 +00001624 If importing a module fails, for example due to a syntax error, then this
1625 will be recorded as a single error and discovery will continue.
1626
Benjamin Petersond2397752009-06-27 23:45:02 +00001627 If a test package name (directory with :file:`__init__.py`) matches the
1628 pattern then the package will be checked for a ``load_tests``
1629 function. If this exists then it will be called with *loader*, *tests*,
1630 *pattern*.
1631
Benjamin Peterson4ac9ce42009-10-04 14:49:41 +00001632 If load_tests exists then discovery does *not* recurse into the package,
Benjamin Petersond2397752009-06-27 23:45:02 +00001633 ``load_tests`` is responsible for loading all tests in the package.
1634
1635 The pattern is deliberately not stored as a loader attribute so that
1636 packages can continue discovery themselves. *top_level_dir* is stored so
1637 ``load_tests`` does not need to pass this argument in to
1638 ``loader.discover()``.
1639
Benjamin Petersonb48af542010-04-11 20:43:16 +00001640 *start_dir* can be a dotted module name as well as a directory.
1641
Georg Brandl853947a2010-01-31 18:53:23 +00001642 .. versionadded:: 3.2
1643
Benjamin Petersond2397752009-06-27 23:45:02 +00001644
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +00001645 The following attributes of a :class:`TestLoader` can be configured either by
1646 subclassing or assignment on an instance:
1647
1648
1649 .. attribute:: testMethodPrefix
1650
1651 String giving the prefix of method names which will be interpreted as test
1652 methods. The default value is ``'test'``.
1653
1654 This affects :meth:`getTestCaseNames` and all the :meth:`loadTestsFrom\*`
1655 methods.
1656
1657
1658 .. attribute:: sortTestMethodsUsing
1659
1660 Function to be used to compare method names when sorting them in
1661 :meth:`getTestCaseNames` and all the :meth:`loadTestsFrom\*` methods.
1662
1663
1664 .. attribute:: suiteClass
1665
1666 Callable object that constructs a test suite from a list of tests. No
1667 methods on the resulting object are needed. The default value is the
1668 :class:`TestSuite` class.
1669
1670 This affects all the :meth:`loadTestsFrom\*` methods.
1671
1672
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +00001673.. class:: TestResult
1674
1675 This class is used to compile information about which tests have succeeded
1676 and which have failed.
1677
1678 A :class:`TestResult` object stores the results of a set of tests. The
1679 :class:`TestCase` and :class:`TestSuite` classes ensure that results are
1680 properly recorded; test authors do not need to worry about recording the
1681 outcome of tests.
1682
1683 Testing frameworks built on top of :mod:`unittest` may want access to the
1684 :class:`TestResult` object generated by running a set of tests for reporting
1685 purposes; a :class:`TestResult` instance is returned by the
1686 :meth:`TestRunner.run` method for this purpose.
1687
1688 :class:`TestResult` instances have the following attributes that will be of
1689 interest when inspecting the results of running a set of tests:
1690
1691
1692 .. attribute:: errors
1693
1694 A list containing 2-tuples of :class:`TestCase` instances and strings
1695 holding formatted tracebacks. Each tuple represents a test which raised an
1696 unexpected exception.
1697
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +00001698 .. attribute:: failures
1699
1700 A list containing 2-tuples of :class:`TestCase` instances and strings
1701 holding formatted tracebacks. Each tuple represents a test where a failure
1702 was explicitly signalled using the :meth:`TestCase.fail\*` or
1703 :meth:`TestCase.assert\*` methods.
1704
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +00001705 .. attribute:: skipped
1706
1707 A list containing 2-tuples of :class:`TestCase` instances and strings
1708 holding the reason for skipping the test.
1709
Benjamin Peterson70e32c82009-03-24 01:00:11 +00001710 .. versionadded:: 3.1
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +00001711
1712 .. attribute:: expectedFailures
1713
Georg Brandl6faee4e2010-09-21 14:48:28 +00001714 A list containing 2-tuples of :class:`TestCase` instances and strings
1715 holding formatted tracebacks. Each tuple represents an expected failure
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +00001716 of the test case.
1717
1718 .. attribute:: unexpectedSuccesses
1719
1720 A list containing :class:`TestCase` instances that were marked as expected
1721 failures, but succeeded.
1722
1723 .. attribute:: shouldStop
1724
1725 Set to ``True`` when the execution of tests should stop by :meth:`stop`.
1726
1727
1728 .. attribute:: testsRun
1729
1730 The total number of tests run so far.
1731
1732
Benjamin Petersonb48af542010-04-11 20:43:16 +00001733 .. attribute:: buffer
1734
1735 If set to true, ``sys.stdout`` and ``sys.stderr`` will be buffered in between
1736 :meth:`startTest` and :meth:`stopTest` being called. Collected output will
1737 only be echoed onto the real ``sys.stdout`` and ``sys.stderr`` if the test
1738 fails or errors. Any output is also attached to the failure / error message.
1739
Ezio Melotti7afd3f52010-04-20 09:32:54 +00001740 .. versionadded:: 3.2
Benjamin Petersonb48af542010-04-11 20:43:16 +00001741
1742
1743 .. attribute:: failfast
1744
1745 If set to true :meth:`stop` will be called on the first failure or error,
1746 halting the test run.
1747
Ezio Melotti7afd3f52010-04-20 09:32:54 +00001748 .. versionadded:: 3.2
Benjamin Petersonb48af542010-04-11 20:43:16 +00001749
1750
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +00001751 .. method:: wasSuccessful()
1752
1753 Return :const:`True` if all tests run so far have passed, otherwise returns
1754 :const:`False`.
1755
1756
1757 .. method:: stop()
1758
1759 This method can be called to signal that the set of tests being run should
1760 be aborted by setting the :attr:`shouldStop` attribute to :const:`True`.
1761 :class:`TestRunner` objects should respect this flag and return without
1762 running any additional tests.
1763
1764 For example, this feature is used by the :class:`TextTestRunner` class to
1765 stop the test framework when the user signals an interrupt from the
1766 keyboard. Interactive tools which provide :class:`TestRunner`
1767 implementations can use this in a similar manner.
1768
1769 The following methods of the :class:`TestResult` class are used to maintain
1770 the internal data structures, and may be extended in subclasses to support
1771 additional reporting requirements. This is particularly useful in building
1772 tools which support interactive reporting while tests are being run.
1773
1774
1775 .. method:: startTest(test)
1776
1777 Called when the test case *test* is about to be run.
1778
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +00001779 .. method:: stopTest(test)
1780
1781 Called after the test case *test* has been executed, regardless of the
1782 outcome.
1783
Benjamin Peterson25c95f12009-05-08 20:42:26 +00001784 .. method:: startTestRun(test)
1785
1786 Called once before any tests are executed.
1787
Georg Brandl853947a2010-01-31 18:53:23 +00001788 .. versionadded:: 3.2
Benjamin Peterson25c95f12009-05-08 20:42:26 +00001789
1790
1791 .. method:: stopTestRun(test)
1792
Ezio Melotti176d6c42010-01-27 20:58:07 +00001793 Called once after all tests are executed.
Benjamin Peterson25c95f12009-05-08 20:42:26 +00001794
Georg Brandl853947a2010-01-31 18:53:23 +00001795 .. versionadded:: 3.2
Benjamin Peterson25c95f12009-05-08 20:42:26 +00001796
1797
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +00001798 .. method:: addError(test, err)
1799
1800 Called when the test case *test* raises an unexpected exception *err* is a
1801 tuple of the form returned by :func:`sys.exc_info`: ``(type, value,
1802 traceback)``.
1803
1804 The default implementation appends a tuple ``(test, formatted_err)`` to
1805 the instance's :attr:`errors` attribute, where *formatted_err* is a
1806 formatted traceback derived from *err*.
1807
1808
1809 .. method:: addFailure(test, err)
1810
Benjamin Petersond2397752009-06-27 23:45:02 +00001811 Called when the test case *test* signals a failure. *err* is a tuple of
1812 the form returned by :func:`sys.exc_info`: ``(type, value, traceback)``.
Benjamin Peterson52baa292009-03-24 00:56:30 +00001813
1814 The default implementation appends a tuple ``(test, formatted_err)`` to
1815 the instance's :attr:`failures` attribute, where *formatted_err* is a
1816 formatted traceback derived from *err*.
1817
1818
1819 .. method:: addSuccess(test)
1820
1821 Called when the test case *test* succeeds.
1822
1823 The default implementation does nothing.
1824
1825
1826 .. method:: addSkip(test, reason)
1827
1828 Called when the test case *test* is skipped. *reason* is the reason the
1829 test gave for skipping.
1830
1831 The default implementation appends a tuple ``(test, reason)`` to the
1832 instance's :attr:`skipped` attribute.
1833
1834
1835 .. method:: addExpectedFailure(test, err)
1836
1837 Called when the test case *test* fails, but was marked with the
1838 :func:`expectedFailure` decorator.
1839
1840 The default implementation appends a tuple ``(test, formatted_err)`` to
1841 the instance's :attr:`expectedFailures` attribute, where *formatted_err*
1842 is a formatted traceback derived from *err*.
1843
1844
1845 .. method:: addUnexpectedSuccess(test)
1846
1847 Called when the test case *test* was marked with the
1848 :func:`expectedFailure` decorator, but succeeded.
1849
1850 The default implementation appends the test to the instance's
1851 :attr:`unexpectedSuccesses` attribute.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001852
Georg Brandl67b21b72010-08-17 15:07:14 +00001853
Michael Foord34c94622010-02-10 15:51:42 +00001854.. class:: TextTestResult(stream, descriptions, verbosity)
1855
Georg Brandl67b21b72010-08-17 15:07:14 +00001856 A concrete implementation of :class:`TestResult` used by the
1857 :class:`TextTestRunner`.
Michael Foord34c94622010-02-10 15:51:42 +00001858
Georg Brandl67b21b72010-08-17 15:07:14 +00001859 .. versionadded:: 3.2
1860 This class was previously named ``_TextTestResult``. The old name still
1861 exists as an alias but is deprecated.
1862
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001863
1864.. data:: defaultTestLoader
1865
1866 Instance of the :class:`TestLoader` class intended to be shared. If no
1867 customization of the :class:`TestLoader` is needed, this instance can be used
1868 instead of repeatedly creating new instances.
1869
1870
Michael Foord34c94622010-02-10 15:51:42 +00001871.. class:: TextTestRunner(stream=sys.stderr, descriptions=True, verbosity=1, runnerclass=None)
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001872
1873 A basic test runner implementation which prints results on standard error. It
1874 has a few configurable parameters, but is essentially very simple. Graphical
1875 applications which run test suites should provide alternate implementations.
1876
Benjamin Peterson25c95f12009-05-08 20:42:26 +00001877 .. method:: _makeResult()
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001878
Benjamin Peterson25c95f12009-05-08 20:42:26 +00001879 This method returns the instance of ``TestResult`` used by :meth:`run`.
1880 It is not intended to be called directly, but can be overridden in
1881 subclasses to provide a custom ``TestResult``.
1882
Michael Foord34c94622010-02-10 15:51:42 +00001883 ``_makeResult()`` instantiates the class or callable passed in the
1884 ``TextTestRunner`` constructor as the ``resultclass`` argument. It
Benjamin Petersonb48af542010-04-11 20:43:16 +00001885 defaults to :class:`TextTestResult` if no ``resultclass`` is provided.
Michael Foord34c94622010-02-10 15:51:42 +00001886 The result class is instantiated with the following arguments::
1887
1888 stream, descriptions, verbosity
Benjamin Peterson25c95f12009-05-08 20:42:26 +00001889
Benjamin Petersonb48af542010-04-11 20:43:16 +00001890.. function:: main(module='__main__', defaultTest=None, argv=None, testRunner=None, testLoader=unittest.loader.defaultTestLoader, exit=True, verbosity=1, failfast=None, catchbreak=None, buffer=None)
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001891
1892 A command-line program that runs a set of tests; this is primarily for making
1893 test modules conveniently executable. The simplest use for this function is to
1894 include the following line at the end of a test script::
1895
1896 if __name__ == '__main__':
1897 unittest.main()
1898
Benjamin Petersond2397752009-06-27 23:45:02 +00001899 You can run tests with more detailed information by passing in the verbosity
1900 argument::
1901
1902 if __name__ == '__main__':
1903 unittest.main(verbosity=2)
1904
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001905 The *testRunner* argument can either be a test runner class or an already
Benjamin Peterson25c95f12009-05-08 20:42:26 +00001906 created instance of it. By default ``main`` calls :func:`sys.exit` with
1907 an exit code indicating success or failure of the tests run.
1908
1909 ``main`` supports being used from the interactive interpreter by passing in the
1910 argument ``exit=False``. This displays the result on standard output without
1911 calling :func:`sys.exit`::
1912
1913 >>> from unittest import main
1914 >>> main(module='test_module', exit=False)
1915
Benjamin Petersonb48af542010-04-11 20:43:16 +00001916 The ``failfast``, ``catchbreak`` and ``buffer`` parameters have the same
1917 effect as the `failfast, catch and buffer command line options`_.
1918
Benjamin Peterson25c95f12009-05-08 20:42:26 +00001919 Calling ``main`` actually returns an instance of the ``TestProgram`` class.
1920 This stores the result of the tests run as the ``result`` attribute.
1921
Georg Brandl853947a2010-01-31 18:53:23 +00001922 .. versionchanged:: 3.2
Benjamin Petersonb48af542010-04-11 20:43:16 +00001923 The ``exit``, ``verbosity``, ``failfast``, ``catchbreak`` and ``buffer``
1924 parameters were added.
Benjamin Petersond2397752009-06-27 23:45:02 +00001925
1926
1927load_tests Protocol
1928###################
1929
Benjamin Peterson4ac9ce42009-10-04 14:49:41 +00001930
Georg Brandl853947a2010-01-31 18:53:23 +00001931.. versionadded:: 3.2
Benjamin Peterson4ac9ce42009-10-04 14:49:41 +00001932
1933
Benjamin Petersond2397752009-06-27 23:45:02 +00001934Modules or packages can customize how tests are loaded from them during normal
1935test runs or test discovery by implementing a function called ``load_tests``.
1936
1937If a test module defines ``load_tests`` it will be called by
1938:meth:`TestLoader.loadTestsFromModule` with the following arguments::
1939
1940 load_tests(loader, standard_tests, None)
1941
1942It should return a :class:`TestSuite`.
1943
1944*loader* is the instance of :class:`TestLoader` doing the loading.
1945*standard_tests* are the tests that would be loaded by default from the
1946module. It is common for test modules to only want to add or remove tests
1947from the standard set of tests.
1948The third argument is used when loading packages as part of test discovery.
1949
1950A typical ``load_tests`` function that loads tests from a specific set of
1951:class:`TestCase` classes may look like::
1952
1953 test_cases = (TestCase1, TestCase2, TestCase3)
1954
1955 def load_tests(loader, tests, pattern):
1956 suite = TestSuite()
1957 for test_class in test_cases:
1958 tests = loader.loadTestsFromTestCase(test_class)
1959 suite.addTests(tests)
1960 return suite
1961
1962If discovery is started, either from the command line or by calling
1963:meth:`TestLoader.discover`, with a pattern that matches a package
1964name then the package :file:`__init__.py` will be checked for ``load_tests``.
1965
1966.. note::
1967
Ezio Melotti0639d5a2009-12-19 23:26:38 +00001968 The default pattern is 'test*.py'. This matches all Python files
Benjamin Petersond2397752009-06-27 23:45:02 +00001969 that start with 'test' but *won't* match any test directories.
1970
1971 A pattern like 'test*' will match test packages as well as
1972 modules.
1973
1974If the package :file:`__init__.py` defines ``load_tests`` then it will be
1975called and discovery not continued into the package. ``load_tests``
1976is called with the following arguments::
1977
1978 load_tests(loader, standard_tests, pattern)
1979
1980This should return a :class:`TestSuite` representing all the tests
1981from the package. (``standard_tests`` will only contain tests
1982collected from :file:`__init__.py`.)
1983
1984Because the pattern is passed into ``load_tests`` the package is free to
1985continue (and potentially modify) test discovery. A 'do nothing'
1986``load_tests`` function for a test package would look like::
1987
1988 def load_tests(loader, standard_tests, pattern):
1989 # top level directory cached on loader instance
1990 this_dir = os.path.dirname(__file__)
1991 package_tests = loader.discover(start_dir=this_dir, pattern=pattern)
1992 standard_tests.addTests(package_tests)
1993 return standard_tests
Benjamin Petersonb48af542010-04-11 20:43:16 +00001994
1995
1996Class and Module Fixtures
1997-------------------------
1998
1999Class and module level fixtures are implemented in :class:`TestSuite`. When
2000the test suite encounters a test from a new class then :meth:`tearDownClass`
2001from the previous class (if there is one) is called, followed by
2002:meth:`setUpClass` from the new class.
2003
2004Similarly if a test is from a different module from the previous test then
2005``tearDownModule`` from the previous module is run, followed by
2006``setUpModule`` from the new module.
2007
2008After all the tests have run the final ``tearDownClass`` and
2009``tearDownModule`` are run.
2010
2011Note that shared fixtures do not play well with [potential] features like test
2012parallelization and they break test isolation. They should be used with care.
2013
2014The default ordering of tests created by the unittest test loaders is to group
2015all tests from the same modules and classes together. This will lead to
2016``setUpClass`` / ``setUpModule`` (etc) being called exactly once per class and
2017module. If you randomize the order, so that tests from different modules and
2018classes are adjacent to each other, then these shared fixture functions may be
2019called multiple times in a single test run.
2020
2021Shared fixtures are not intended to work with suites with non-standard
2022ordering. A ``BaseTestSuite`` still exists for frameworks that don't want to
2023support shared fixtures.
2024
2025If there are any exceptions raised during one of the shared fixture functions
2026the test is reported as an error. Because there is no corresponding test
2027instance an ``_ErrorHolder`` object (that has the same interface as a
2028:class:`TestCase`) is created to represent the error. If you are just using
2029the standard unittest test runner then this detail doesn't matter, but if you
2030are a framework author it may be relevant.
2031
2032
2033setUpClass and tearDownClass
2034~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2035
2036These must be implemented as class methods::
2037
2038 import unittest
2039
2040 class Test(unittest.TestCase):
2041 @classmethod
2042 def setUpClass(cls):
2043 cls._connection = createExpensiveConnectionObject()
2044
2045 @classmethod
2046 def tearDownClass(cls):
2047 cls._connection.destroy()
2048
2049If you want the ``setUpClass`` and ``tearDownClass`` on base classes called
2050then you must call up to them yourself. The implementations in
2051:class:`TestCase` are empty.
2052
2053If an exception is raised during a ``setUpClass`` then the tests in the class
2054are not run and the ``tearDownClass`` is not run. Skipped classes will not
Michael Foord98b3e762010-06-05 21:59:55 +00002055have ``setUpClass`` or ``tearDownClass`` run. If the exception is a
2056``SkipTest`` exception then the class will be reported as having been skipped
2057instead of as an error.
Benjamin Petersonb48af542010-04-11 20:43:16 +00002058
2059
2060setUpModule and tearDownModule
2061~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2062
2063These should be implemented as functions::
2064
2065 def setUpModule():
2066 createConnection()
2067
2068 def tearDownModule():
2069 closeConnection()
2070
2071If an exception is raised in a ``setUpModule`` then none of the tests in the
Michael Foord98b3e762010-06-05 21:59:55 +00002072module will be run and the ``tearDownModule`` will not be run. If the exception is a
2073``SkipTest`` exception then the module will be reported as having been skipped
2074instead of as an error.
Benjamin Petersonb48af542010-04-11 20:43:16 +00002075
2076
2077Signal Handling
2078---------------
2079
Benjamin Petersond7c3ed52010-06-27 22:32:30 +00002080The :option:`-c`/:option:`--catch` command line option to unittest, along with the ``catchbreak``
Benjamin Petersonb48af542010-04-11 20:43:16 +00002081parameter to :func:`unittest.main()`, provide more friendly handling of
Benjamin Petersond7c3ed52010-06-27 22:32:30 +00002082control-C during a test run. With catch break behavior enabled control-C will
Benjamin Petersonb48af542010-04-11 20:43:16 +00002083allow the currently running test to complete, and the test run will then end
2084and report all the results so far. A second control-c will raise a
Benjamin Petersond7c3ed52010-06-27 22:32:30 +00002085:exc:`KeyboardInterrupt` in the usual way.
Benjamin Petersonb48af542010-04-11 20:43:16 +00002086
Michael Foordde4ceab2010-04-25 19:53:49 +00002087The control-c handling signal handler attempts to remain compatible with code or
2088tests that install their own :const:`signal.SIGINT` handler. If the ``unittest``
2089handler is called but *isn't* the installed :const:`signal.SIGINT` handler,
2090i.e. it has been replaced by the system under test and delegated to, then it
2091calls the default handler. This will normally be the expected behavior by code
2092that replaces an installed handler and delegates to it. For individual tests
2093that need ``unittest`` control-c handling disabled the :func:`removeHandler`
2094decorator can be used.
2095
2096There are a few utility functions for framework authors to enable control-c
2097handling functionality within test frameworks.
Benjamin Petersonb48af542010-04-11 20:43:16 +00002098
2099.. function:: installHandler()
2100
2101 Install the control-c handler. When a :const:`signal.SIGINT` is received
2102 (usually in response to the user pressing control-c) all registered results
2103 have :meth:`~TestResult.stop` called.
2104
Michael Foord469b1f02010-04-26 23:41:26 +00002105 .. versionadded:: 3.2
2106
Benjamin Petersonb48af542010-04-11 20:43:16 +00002107.. function:: registerResult(result)
2108
2109 Register a :class:`TestResult` object for control-c handling. Registering a
2110 result stores a weak reference to it, so it doesn't prevent the result from
2111 being garbage collected.
2112
Michael Foordde4ceab2010-04-25 19:53:49 +00002113 Registering a :class:`TestResult` object has no side-effects if control-c
2114 handling is not enabled, so test frameworks can unconditionally register
2115 all results they create independently of whether or not handling is enabled.
2116
Michael Foord469b1f02010-04-26 23:41:26 +00002117 .. versionadded:: 3.2
2118
Benjamin Petersonb48af542010-04-11 20:43:16 +00002119.. function:: removeResult(result)
2120
2121 Remove a registered result. Once a result has been removed then
2122 :meth:`~TestResult.stop` will no longer be called on that result object in
2123 response to a control-c.
2124
Michael Foord469b1f02010-04-26 23:41:26 +00002125 .. versionadded:: 3.2
2126
Michael Foordde4ceab2010-04-25 19:53:49 +00002127.. function:: removeHandler(function=None)
2128
2129 When called without arguments this function removes the control-c handler
2130 if it has been installed. This function can also be used as a test decorator
2131 to temporarily remove the handler whilst the test is being executed::
2132
2133 @unittest.removeHandler
2134 def test_signal_handling(self):
2135 ...
2136
Michael Foord469b1f02010-04-26 23:41:26 +00002137 .. versionadded:: 3.2
2138