Basic patterns and examples ========================================================== How to change command line options defaults ------------------------------------------- It can be tedious to type the same series of command line options every time you use ``pytest``. For example, if you always want to see detailed info on skipped and xfailed tests, as well as have terser "dot" progress output, you can write it into a configuration file: .. code-block:: ini # content of pytest.ini [pytest] addopts = -ra -q Alternatively, you can set a ``PYTEST_ADDOPTS`` environment variable to add command line options while the environment is in use: .. code-block:: bash export PYTEST_ADDOPTS="-v" Here's how the command-line is built in the presence of ``addopts`` or the environment variable: .. code-block:: text $PYTEST_ADDOPTS So if the user executes in the command-line: .. code-block:: bash pytest -m slow The actual command line executed is: .. code-block:: bash pytest -ra -q -v -m slow Note that as usual for other command-line applications, in case of conflicting options the last one wins, so the example above will show verbose output because ``-v`` overwrites ``-q``. .. _request example: Pass different values to a test function, depending on command line options ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- .. regendoc:wipe Suppose we want to write a test that depends on a command line option. Here is a basic pattern to achieve this: .. code-block:: python # content of test_sample.py def test_answer(cmdopt): if cmdopt == "type1": print("first") elif cmdopt == "type2": print("second") assert 0 # to see what was printed For this to work we need to add a command line option and provide the ``cmdopt`` through a :ref:`fixture function `: .. code-block:: python # content of conftest.py import pytest def pytest_addoption(parser): parser.addoption( "--cmdopt", action="store", default="type1", help="my option: type1 or type2" ) @pytest.fixture def cmdopt(request): return request.config.getoption("--cmdopt") Let's run this without supplying our new option: .. code-block:: pytest $ pytest -q test_sample.py F [100%] ================================= FAILURES ================================= _______________________________ test_answer ________________________________ cmdopt = 'type1' def test_answer(cmdopt): if cmdopt == "type1": print("first") elif cmdopt == "type2": print("second") > assert 0 # to see what was printed E assert 0 test_sample.py:6: AssertionError --------------------------- Captured stdout call --------------------------- first ========================= short test summary info ========================== FAILED test_sample.py::test_answer - assert 0 1 failed in 0.12s And now with supplying a command line option: .. code-block:: pytest $ pytest -q --cmdopt=type2 F [100%] ================================= FAILURES ================================= _______________________________ test_answer ________________________________ cmdopt = 'type2' def test_answer(cmdopt): if cmdopt == "type1": print("first") elif cmdopt == "type2": print("second") > assert 0 # to see what was printed E assert 0 test_sample.py:6: AssertionError --------------------------- Captured stdout call --------------------------- second ========================= short test summary info ========================== FAILED test_sample.py::test_answer - assert 0 1 failed in 0.12s You can see that the command line option arrived in our test. We could add simple validation for the input by listing the choices: .. code-block:: python # content of conftest.py import pytest def pytest_addoption(parser): parser.addoption( "--cmdopt", action="store", default="type1", help="my option: type1 or type2", choices=("type1", "type2"), ) Now we'll get feedback on a bad argument: .. code-block:: pytest $ pytest -q --cmdopt=type3 ERROR: usage: pytest [options] [file_or_dir] [file_or_dir] [...] pytest: error: argument --cmdopt: invalid choice: 'type3' (choose from 'type1', 'type2') If you need to provide more detailed error messages, you can use the ``type`` parameter and raise :exc:`pytest.UsageError`: .. code-block:: python # content of conftest.py import pytest def type_checker(value): msg = "cmdopt must specify a numeric type as typeNNN" if not value.startswith("type"): raise pytest.UsageError(msg) try: int(value[4:]) except ValueError: raise pytest.UsageError(msg) return value def pytest_addoption(parser): parser.addoption( "--cmdopt", action="store", default="type1", help="my option: type1 or type2", type=type_checker, ) This completes the basic pattern. However, one often rather wants to process command line options outside of the test and rather pass in different or more complex objects. Dynamically adding command line options -------------------------------------------------------------- .. regendoc:wipe Through :confval:`addopts` you can statically add command line options for your project. You can also dynamically modify the command line arguments before they get processed: .. code-block:: python # setuptools plugin import sys def pytest_load_initial_conftests(args): if "xdist" in sys.modules: # pytest-xdist plugin import multiprocessing num = max(multiprocessing.cpu_count() / 2, 1) args[:] = ["-n", str(num)] + args If you have the :pypi:`xdist plugin ` installed you will now always perform test runs using a number of subprocesses close to your CPU. Running in an empty directory with the above conftest.py: .. code-block:: pytest $ pytest =========================== test session starts ============================ platform linux -- Python 3.x.y, pytest-8.x.y, pluggy-1.x.y rootdir: /home/sweet/project collected 0 items ========================== no tests ran in 0.12s =========================== .. _`excontrolskip`: Control skipping of tests according to command line option -------------------------------------------------------------- .. regendoc:wipe Here is a ``conftest.py`` file adding a ``--runslow`` command line option to control skipping of ``pytest.mark.slow`` marked tests: .. code-block:: python # content of conftest.py import pytest def pytest_addoption(parser): parser.addoption( "--runslow", action="store_true", default=False, help="run slow tests" ) def pytest_configure(config): config.addinivalue_line("markers", "slow: mark test as slow to run") def pytest_collection_modifyitems(config, items): if config.getoption("--runslow"): # --runslow given in cli: do not skip slow tests return skip_slow = pytest.mark.skip(reason="need --runslow option to run") for item in items: if "slow" in item.keywords: item.add_marker(skip_slow) We can now write a test module like this: .. code-block:: python # content of test_module.py import pytest def test_func_fast(): pass @pytest.mark.slow def test_func_slow(): pass and when running it will see a skipped "slow" test: .. code-block:: pytest $ pytest -rs # "-rs" means report details on the little 's' =========================== test session starts ============================ platform linux -- Python 3.x.y, pytest-8.x.y, pluggy-1.x.y rootdir: /home/sweet/project collected 2 items test_module.py .s [100%] ========================= short test summary info ========================== SKIPPED [1] test_module.py:8: need --runslow option to run ======================= 1 passed, 1 skipped in 0.12s ======================= Or run it including the ``slow`` marked test: .. code-block:: pytest $ pytest --runslow =========================== test session starts ============================ platform linux -- Python 3.x.y, pytest-8.x.y, pluggy-1.x.y rootdir: /home/sweet/project collected 2 items test_module.py .. [100%] ============================ 2 passed in 0.12s ============================= .. _`__tracebackhide__`: Writing well integrated assertion helpers ----------------------------------------- .. regendoc:wipe If you have a test helper function called from a test you can use the ``pytest.fail`` marker to fail a test with a certain message. The test support function will not show up in the traceback if you set the ``__tracebackhide__`` option somewhere in the helper function. Example: .. code-block:: python # content of test_checkconfig.py import pytest def checkconfig(x): __tracebackhide__ = True if not hasattr(x, "config"): pytest.fail(f"not configured: {x}") def test_something(): checkconfig(42) The ``__tracebackhide__`` setting influences ``pytest`` showing of tracebacks: the ``checkconfig`` function will not be shown unless the ``--full-trace`` command line option is specified. Let's run our little function: .. code-block:: pytest $ pytest -q test_checkconfig.py F [100%] ================================= FAILURES ================================= ______________________________ test_something ______________________________ def test_something(): > checkconfig(42) E Failed: not configured: 42 test_checkconfig.py:11: Failed ========================= short test summary info ========================== FAILED test_checkconfig.py::test_something - Failed: not configured: 42 1 failed in 0.12s If you only want to hide certain exceptions, you can set ``__tracebackhide__`` to a callable which gets the ``ExceptionInfo`` object. You can for example use this to make sure unexpected exception types aren't hidden: .. code-block:: python import operator import pytest class ConfigException(Exception): pass def checkconfig(x): __tracebackhide__ = operator.methodcaller("errisinstance", ConfigException) if not hasattr(x, "config"): raise ConfigException(f"not configured: {x}") def test_something(): checkconfig(42) This will avoid hiding the exception traceback on unrelated exceptions (i.e. bugs in assertion helpers). Detect if running from within a pytest run -------------------------------------------------------------- .. regendoc:wipe Usually it is a bad idea to make application code behave differently if called from a test. But if you absolutely must find out if your application code is running from a test you can do this: .. code-block:: python import os if os.environ.get("PYTEST_VERSION") is not None: # Things you want to to do if your code is called by pytest. ... else: # Things you want to to do if your code is not called by pytest. ... Adding info to test report header -------------------------------------------------------------- .. regendoc:wipe It's easy to present extra information in a ``pytest`` run: .. code-block:: python # content of conftest.py def pytest_report_header(config): return "project deps: mylib-1.1" which will add the string to the test header accordingly: .. code-block:: pytest $ pytest =========================== test session starts ============================ platform linux -- Python 3.x.y, pytest-8.x.y, pluggy-1.x.y project deps: mylib-1.1 rootdir: /home/sweet/project collected 0 items ========================== no tests ran in 0.12s =========================== .. regendoc:wipe It is also possible to return a list of strings which will be considered as several lines of information. You may consider ``config.getoption('verbose')`` in order to display more information if applicable: .. code-block:: python # content of conftest.py def pytest_report_header(config): if config.getoption("verbose") > 0: return ["info1: did you know that ...", "did you?"] which will add info only when run with "--v": .. code-block:: pytest $ pytest -v =========================== test session starts ============================ platform linux -- Python 3.x.y, pytest-8.x.y, pluggy-1.x.y -- $PYTHON_PREFIX/bin/python cachedir: .pytest_cache info1: did you know that ... did you? rootdir: /home/sweet/project collecting ... collected 0 items ========================== no tests ran in 0.12s =========================== and nothing when run plainly: .. code-block:: pytest $ pytest =========================== test session starts ============================ platform linux -- Python 3.x.y, pytest-8.x.y, pluggy-1.x.y rootdir: /home/sweet/project collected 0 items ========================== no tests ran in 0.12s =========================== Profiling test duration -------------------------- .. regendoc:wipe .. versionadded: 2.2 If you have a slow running large test suite you might want to find out which tests are the slowest. Let's make an artificial test suite: .. code-block:: python # content of test_some_are_slow.py import time def test_funcfast(): time.sleep(0.1) def test_funcslow1(): time.sleep(0.2) def test_funcslow2(): time.sleep(0.3) Now we can profile which test functions execute the slowest: .. code-block:: pytest $ pytest --durations=3 =========================== test session starts ============================ platform linux -- Python 3.x.y, pytest-8.x.y, pluggy-1.x.y rootdir: /home/sweet/project collected 3 items test_some_are_slow.py ... [100%] =========================== slowest 3 durations ============================ 0.30s call test_some_are_slow.py::test_funcslow2 0.20s call test_some_are_slow.py::test_funcslow1 0.10s call test_some_are_slow.py::test_funcfast ============================ 3 passed in 0.12s ============================= Incremental testing - test steps --------------------------------------------------- .. regendoc:wipe Sometimes you may have a testing situation which consists of a series of test steps. If one step fails it makes no sense to execute further steps as they are all expected to fail anyway and their tracebacks add no insight. Here is a simple ``conftest.py`` file which introduces an ``incremental`` marker which is to be used on classes: .. code-block:: python # content of conftest.py from typing import Dict, Tuple import pytest # store history of failures per test class name and per index in parametrize (if parametrize used) _test_failed_incremental: Dict[str, Dict[Tuple[int, ...], str]] = {} def pytest_runtest_makereport(item, call): if "incremental" in item.keywords: # incremental marker is used if call.excinfo is not None: # the test has failed # retrieve the class name of the test cls_name = str(item.cls) # retrieve the index of the test (if parametrize is used in combination with incremental) parametrize_index = ( tuple(item.callspec.indices.values()) if hasattr(item, "callspec") else () ) # retrieve the name of the test function test_name = item.originalname or item.name # store in _test_failed_incremental the original name of the failed test _test_failed_incremental.setdefault(cls_name, {}).setdefault( parametrize_index, test_name ) def pytest_runtest_setup(item): if "incremental" in item.keywords: # retrieve the class name of the test cls_name = str(item.cls) # check if a previous test has failed for this class if cls_name in _test_failed_incremental: # retrieve the index of the test (if parametrize is used in combination with incremental) parametrize_index = ( tuple(item.callspec.indices.values()) if hasattr(item, "callspec") else () ) # retrieve the name of the first test function to fail for this class name and index test_name = _test_failed_incremental[cls_name].get(parametrize_index, None) # if name found, test has failed for the combination of class name & test name if test_name is not None: pytest.xfail(f"previous test failed ({test_name})") These two hook implementations work together to abort incremental-marked tests in a class. Here is a test module example: .. code-block:: python # content of test_step.py import pytest @pytest.mark.incremental class TestUserHandling: def test_login(self): pass def test_modification(self): assert 0 def test_deletion(self): pass def test_normal(): pass If we run this: .. code-block:: pytest $ pytest -rx =========================== test session starts ============================ platform linux -- Python 3.x.y, pytest-8.x.y, pluggy-1.x.y rootdir: /home/sweet/project collected 4 items test_step.py .Fx. [100%] ================================= FAILURES ================================= ____________________ TestUserHandling.test_modification ____________________ self = def test_modification(self): > assert 0 E assert 0 test_step.py:11: AssertionError ================================ XFAILURES ================================= ______________________ TestUserHandling.test_deletion ______________________ item = def pytest_runtest_setup(item): if "incremental" in item.keywords: # retrieve the class name of the test cls_name = str(item.cls) # check if a previous test has failed for this class if cls_name in _test_failed_incremental: # retrieve the index of the test (if parametrize is used in combination with incremental) parametrize_index = ( tuple(item.callspec.indices.values()) if hasattr(item, "callspec") else () ) # retrieve the name of the first test function to fail for this class name and index test_name = _test_failed_incremental[cls_name].get(parametrize_index, None) # if name found, test has failed for the combination of class name & test name if test_name is not None: > pytest.xfail(f"previous test failed ({test_name})") E _pytest.outcomes.XFailed: previous test failed (test_modification) conftest.py:47: XFailed ========================= short test summary info ========================== XFAIL test_step.py::TestUserHandling::test_deletion - reason: previous test failed (test_modification) ================== 1 failed, 2 passed, 1 xfailed in 0.12s ================== We'll see that ``test_deletion`` was not executed because ``test_modification`` failed. It is reported as an "expected failure". Package/Directory-level fixtures (setups) ------------------------------------------------------- If you have nested test directories, you can have per-directory fixture scopes by placing fixture functions in a ``conftest.py`` file in that directory. You can use all types of fixtures including :ref:`autouse fixtures ` which are the equivalent of xUnit's setup/teardown concept. It's however recommended to have explicit fixture references in your tests or test classes rather than relying on implicitly executing setup/teardown functions, especially if they are far away from the actual tests. Here is an example for making a ``db`` fixture available in a directory: .. code-block:: python # content of a/conftest.py import pytest class DB: pass @pytest.fixture(scope="package") def db(): return DB() and then a test module in that directory: .. code-block:: python # content of a/test_db.py def test_a1(db): assert 0, db # to show value another test module: .. code-block:: python # content of a/test_db2.py def test_a2(db): assert 0, db # to show value and then a module in a sister directory which will not see the ``db`` fixture: .. code-block:: python # content of b/test_error.py def test_root(db): # no db here, will error out pass We can run this: .. code-block:: pytest $ pytest =========================== test session starts ============================ platform linux -- Python 3.x.y, pytest-8.x.y, pluggy-1.x.y rootdir: /home/sweet/project collected 7 items a/test_db.py F [ 14%] a/test_db2.py F [ 28%] b/test_error.py E [ 42%] test_step.py .Fx. [100%] ================================== ERRORS ================================== _______________________ ERROR at setup of test_root ________________________ file /home/sweet/project/b/test_error.py, line 1 def test_root(db): # no db here, will error out E fixture 'db' not found > available fixtures: cache, capfd, capfdbinary, caplog, capsys, capsysbinary, doctest_namespace, monkeypatch, pytestconfig, record_property, record_testsuite_property, record_xml_attribute, recwarn, tmp_path, tmp_path_factory, tmpdir, tmpdir_factory > use 'pytest --fixtures [testpath]' for help on them. /home/sweet/project/b/test_error.py:1 ================================= FAILURES ================================= _________________________________ test_a1 __________________________________ db = def test_a1(db): > assert 0, db # to show value E AssertionError: E assert 0 a/test_db.py:2: AssertionError _________________________________ test_a2 __________________________________ db = def test_a2(db): > assert 0, db # to show value E AssertionError: E assert 0 a/test_db2.py:2: AssertionError ____________________ TestUserHandling.test_modification ____________________ self = def test_modification(self): > assert 0 E assert 0 test_step.py:11: AssertionError ========================= short test summary info ========================== FAILED a/test_db.py::test_a1 - AssertionError: assert 0 E assert 0 test_module.py:2: AssertionError ________________________________ test_fail2 ________________________________ def test_fail2(): > assert 0 E assert 0 test_module.py:6: AssertionError ========================= short test summary info ========================== FAILED test_module.py::test_fail1 - assert 0 FAILED test_module.py::test_fail2 - assert 0 ============================ 2 failed in 0.12s ============================= you will have a "failures" file which contains the failing test ids: .. code-block:: bash $ cat failures test_module.py::test_fail1 (PYTEST_TMPDIR/test_fail10) test_module.py::test_fail2 Making test result information available in fixtures ----------------------------------------------------------- .. regendoc:wipe If you want to make test result reports available in fixture finalizers here is a little example implemented via a local plugin: .. code-block:: python # content of conftest.py from typing import Dict import pytest from pytest import StashKey, CollectReport phase_report_key = StashKey[Dict[str, CollectReport]]() @pytest.hookimpl(wrapper=True, tryfirst=True) def pytest_runtest_makereport(item, call): # execute all other hooks to obtain the report object rep = yield # store test results for each phase of a call, which can # be "setup", "call", "teardown" item.stash.setdefault(phase_report_key, {})[rep.when] = rep return rep @pytest.fixture def something(request): yield # request.node is an "item" because we use the default # "function" scope report = request.node.stash[phase_report_key] if report["setup"].failed: print("setting up a test failed or skipped", request.node.nodeid) elif ("call" not in report) or report["call"].failed: print("executing test failed or skipped", request.node.nodeid) if you then have failing tests: .. code-block:: python # content of test_module.py import pytest @pytest.fixture def other(): assert 0 def test_setup_fails(something, other): pass def test_call_fails(something): assert 0 def test_fail2(): assert 0 and run it: .. code-block:: pytest $ pytest -s test_module.py =========================== test session starts ============================ platform linux -- Python 3.x.y, pytest-8.x.y, pluggy-1.x.y rootdir: /home/sweet/project collected 3 items test_module.py Esetting up a test failed or skipped test_module.py::test_setup_fails Fexecuting test failed or skipped test_module.py::test_call_fails F ================================== ERRORS ================================== ____________________ ERROR at setup of test_setup_fails ____________________ @pytest.fixture def other(): > assert 0 E assert 0 test_module.py:7: AssertionError ================================= FAILURES ================================= _____________________________ test_call_fails ______________________________ something = None def test_call_fails(something): > assert 0 E assert 0 test_module.py:15: AssertionError ________________________________ test_fail2 ________________________________ def test_fail2(): > assert 0 E assert 0 test_module.py:19: AssertionError ========================= short test summary info ========================== FAILED test_module.py::test_call_fails - assert 0 FAILED test_module.py::test_fail2 - assert 0 ERROR test_module.py::test_setup_fails - assert 0 ======================== 2 failed, 1 error in 0.12s ======================== You'll see that the fixture finalizers could use the precise reporting information. .. _pytest current test env: ``PYTEST_CURRENT_TEST`` environment variable -------------------------------------------- Sometimes a test session might get stuck and there might be no easy way to figure out which test got stuck, for example if pytest was run in quiet mode (``-q``) or you don't have access to the console output. This is particularly a problem if the problem happens only sporadically, the famous "flaky" kind of tests. ``pytest`` sets the :envvar:`PYTEST_CURRENT_TEST` environment variable when running tests, which can be inspected by process monitoring utilities or libraries like :pypi:`psutil` to discover which test got stuck if necessary: .. code-block:: python import psutil for pid in psutil.pids(): environ = psutil.Process(pid).environ() if "PYTEST_CURRENT_TEST" in environ: print(f'pytest process {pid} running: {environ["PYTEST_CURRENT_TEST"]}') During the test session pytest will set ``PYTEST_CURRENT_TEST`` to the current test :ref:`nodeid ` and the current stage, which can be ``setup``, ``call``, or ``teardown``. For example, when running a single test function named ``test_foo`` from ``foo_module.py``, ``PYTEST_CURRENT_TEST`` will be set to: #. ``foo_module.py::test_foo (setup)`` #. ``foo_module.py::test_foo (call)`` #. ``foo_module.py::test_foo (teardown)`` In that order. .. note:: The contents of ``PYTEST_CURRENT_TEST`` is meant to be human readable and the actual format can be changed between releases (even bug fixes) so it shouldn't be relied on for scripting or automation. .. _freezing-pytest: Freezing pytest --------------- If you freeze your application using a tool like `PyInstaller `_ in order to distribute it to your end-users, it is a good idea to also package your test runner and run your tests using the frozen application. This way packaging errors such as dependencies not being included into the executable can be detected early while also allowing you to send test files to users so they can run them in their machines, which can be useful to obtain more information about a hard to reproduce bug. Fortunately recent ``PyInstaller`` releases already have a custom hook for pytest, but if you are using another tool to freeze executables such as ``cx_freeze`` or ``py2exe``, you can use ``pytest.freeze_includes()`` to obtain the full list of internal pytest modules. How to configure the tools to find the internal modules varies from tool to tool, however. Instead of freezing the pytest runner as a separate executable, you can make your frozen program work as the pytest runner by some clever argument handling during program startup. This allows you to have a single executable, which is usually more convenient. Please note that the mechanism for plugin discovery used by pytest (setuptools entry points) doesn't work with frozen executables so pytest can't find any third party plugins automatically. To include third party plugins like ``pytest-timeout`` they must be imported explicitly and passed on to pytest.main. .. code-block:: python # contents of app_main.py import sys import pytest_timeout # Third party plugin if len(sys.argv) > 1 and sys.argv[1] == "--pytest": import pytest sys.exit(pytest.main(sys.argv[2:], plugins=[pytest_timeout])) else: # normal application execution: at this point argv can be parsed # by your argument-parsing library of choice as usual ... This allows you to execute tests using the frozen application with standard ``pytest`` command-line options: .. code-block:: bash ./app_main --pytest --verbose --tb=long --junit=xml=results.xml test-suite/