.. _usage: Usage and Invocations ========================================== .. _cmdline: Calling pytest through ``python -m pytest`` ----------------------------------------------------- .. versionadded:: 2.0 You can invoke testing through the Python interpreter from the command line:: python -m pytest [...] This is equivalent to invoking the command line script ``py.test [...]`` directly. Getting help on version, option names, environment variables -------------------------------------------------------------- :: py.test --version # shows where pytest was imported from py.test --fixtures # show available builtin function arguments py.test -h | --help # show help on command line and config file options Stopping after the first (or N) failures --------------------------------------------------- To stop the testing process after the first (N) failures:: py.test -x # stop after first failure py.test --maxfail=2 # stop after two failures Specifying tests / selecting tests --------------------------------------------------- Several test run options:: py.test test_mod.py # run tests in module py.test somepath # run all tests below somepath py.test -k stringexpr # only run tests with names that match the # "string expression", e.g. "MyClass and not method" # will select TestMyClass.test_something # but not TestMyClass.test_method_simple py.test test_mod.py::test_func # only run tests that match the "node ID", # e.g "test_mod.py::test_func" will select # only test_func in test_mod.py py.test test_mod.py::TestClass::test_method # run a single method in # a single class Import 'pkg' and use its filesystem location to find and run tests:: py.test --pyargs pkg # run all tests found below directory of pypkg Modifying Python traceback printing ---------------------------------------------- Examples for modifying traceback printing:: py.test --showlocals # show local variables in tracebacks py.test -l # show local variables (shortcut) py.test --tb=long # the default informative traceback formatting py.test --tb=native # the Python standard library formatting py.test --tb=short # a shorter traceback format py.test --tb=line # only one line per failure Dropping to PDB_ (Python Debugger) on failures ----------------------------------------------- .. _PDB: http://docs.python.org/library/pdb.html Python comes with a builtin Python debugger called PDB_. ``pytest`` allows one to drop into the PDB_ prompt via a command line option:: py.test --pdb This will invoke the Python debugger on every failure. Often you might only want to do this for the first failing test to understand a certain failure situation:: py.test -x --pdb # drop to PDB on first failure, then end test session py.test --pdb --maxfail=3 # drop to PDB for first three failures Note that on any failure the exception information is stored on ``sys.last_value``, ``sys.last_type`` and ``sys.last_traceback``. In interactive use, this allows one to drop into postmortem debugging with any debug tool. One can also manually access the exception information, for example:: >>> import sys >>> sys.last_traceback.tb_lineno 42 >>> sys.last_value AssertionError('assert result == "ok"',) Setting a breakpoint / aka ``set_trace()`` ---------------------------------------------------- If you want to set a breakpoint and enter the ``pdb.set_trace()`` you can use a helper:: import pytest def test_function(): ... pytest.set_trace() # invoke PDB debugger and tracing .. versionadded: 2.0.0 Prior to pytest version 2.0.0 you could only enter PDB_ tracing if you disabled capturing on the command line via ``py.test -s``. In later versions, pytest automatically disables its output capture when you enter PDB_ tracing: * Output capture in other tests is not affected. * Any prior test output that has already been captured and will be processed as such. * Any later output produced within the same test will not be captured and will instead get sent directly to ``sys.stdout``. Note that this holds true even for test output occurring after you exit the interactive PDB_ tracing session and continue with the regular test run. .. versionadded: 2.4.0 Since pytest version 2.4.0 you can also use the native Python ``import pdb;pdb.set_trace()`` call to enter PDB_ tracing without having to use the ``pytest.set_trace()`` wrapper or explicitly disable pytest's output capturing via ``py.test -s``. .. _durations: Profiling test execution duration ------------------------------------- .. versionadded: 2.2 To get a list of the slowest 10 test durations:: py.test --durations=10 Creating JUnitXML format files ---------------------------------------------------- To create result files which can be read by Hudson_ or other Continuous integration servers, use this invocation:: py.test --junitxml=path to create an XML file at ``path``. record_xml_property ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ .. versionadded:: 2.8 If you want to log additional information for a test, you can use the ``record_xml_property`` fixture: .. code-block:: python def test_function(record_xml_property): record_xml_property("example_key", 1) assert 0 This will add an extra property ``example_key="1"`` to the generated ``testcase`` tag: .. code-block:: xml .. warning:: This is an experimental feature, and its interface might be replaced by something more powerful and general in future versions. The functionality per-se will be kept, however. Currently it does not work when used with the ``pytest-xdist`` plugin. Also please note that using this feature will break any schema verification. This might be a problem when used with some CI servers. Creating resultlog format files ---------------------------------------------------- To create plain-text machine-readable result files you can issue:: py.test --resultlog=path and look at the content at the ``path`` location. Such files are used e.g. by the `PyPy-test`_ web page to show test results over several revisions. .. _`PyPy-test`: http://buildbot.pypy.org/summary Sending test report to online pastebin service ----------------------------------------------------- **Creating a URL for each test failure**:: py.test --pastebin=failed This will submit test run information to a remote Paste service and provide a URL for each failure. You may select tests as usual or add for example ``-x`` if you only want to send one particular failure. **Creating a URL for a whole test session log**:: py.test --pastebin=all Currently only pasting to the http://bpaste.net service is implemented. Disabling plugins ----------------- To disable loading specific plugins at invocation time, use the ``-p`` option together with the prefix ``no:``. Example: to disable loading the plugin ``doctest``, which is responsible for executing doctest tests from text files, invoke py.test like this:: py.test -p no:doctest .. _`pytest.main-usage`: Calling pytest from Python code ---------------------------------------------------- .. versionadded:: 2.0 You can invoke ``pytest`` from Python code directly:: pytest.main() this acts as if you would call "py.test" from the command line. It will not raise ``SystemExit`` but return the exitcode instead. You can pass in options and arguments:: pytest.main(['-x', 'mytestdir']) or pass in a string:: pytest.main("-x mytestdir") You can specify additional plugins to ``pytest.main``:: # content of myinvoke.py import pytest class MyPlugin: def pytest_sessionfinish(self): print("*** test run reporting finishing") pytest.main("-qq", plugins=[MyPlugin()]) Running it will show that ``MyPlugin`` was added and its hook was invoked:: $ python myinvoke.py *** test run reporting finishing .. include:: links.inc