test_ok1/doc/capture.txt

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.. _`captures`:
Capturing of stdout/stderr output
=========================================================
By default ``stdout`` and ``stderr`` output is captured separately for
setup and test execution code. If a test or a setup method fails its
according output will usually be shown along with the failure traceback.
In addition, ``stdin`` is set to a "null" object which will fail all
attempts to read from it. This is important if some code paths in
test otherwise might lead to waiting for input - which is usually
not desired when running automated tests.
Setting capturing methods or disabling capturing
-------------------------------------------------
There are two ways in which ``py.test`` can perform capturing:
* ``fd`` level capturing (default): All writes going to the operating
system file descriptors 1 and 2 will be captured, for example writes such
as ``os.write(1, 'hello')``. Capturing on ``fd``-level also includes
**output from subprocesses**.
* ``sys`` level capturing: The ``sys.stdout`` and ``sys.stderr`` will
will be replaced with in-memory files and the ``print`` builtin or
output from code like ``sys.stderr.write(...)`` will be captured with
this method.
.. _`disable capturing`:
You can influence output capturing mechanisms from the command line::
py.test -s # disable all capturing
py.test --capture=sys # replace sys.stdout/stderr with in-mem files
py.test --capture=fd # also point filedescriptors 1 and 2 to temp file
If you set capturing values in a conftest file like this::
# conftest.py
option_capture = 'fd'
then all tests in that directory will execute with "fd" style capturing.
Accessing captured output from a test function
---------------------------------------------------
The :ref:`funcarg mechanism` allows test function a very easy
way to access the captured output by simply using the names
``capsys`` or ``capfd`` in the test function signature. Here
is an example test function that performs some output related
checks::
def test_myoutput(capsys): # or use "capfd" for fd-level
print ("hello")
sys.stderr.write("world\n")
out, err = capsys.readouterr()
assert out == "hello\n"
assert err == "world\n"
print "next"
out, err = capsys.readouterr()
assert out == "next\n"
The ``readouterr()`` call snapshots the output so far -
and capturing will be continued. After the test
function finishes the original streams will
be restored. Using ``capsys`` this way frees your
test from having to care about setting/resetting
output streams and also interacts well with py.test's
own per-test capturing.
If you want to capture on ``fd`` level you can use
the ``capfd`` function argument which offers the exact
same interface.
.. include:: links.inc