test::builder(3)

NAME

Test::Builder - Backend for building test libraries

SYNOPSIS

package My::Test::Module;
use Test::Builder;
require Exporter;
@ISA = qw(Exporter);
@EXPORT = qw(ok);
my $Test = Test::Builder->new;
$Test->output('my_logfile');
sub import {
    my($self) = shift;
    my $pack = caller;
    $Test->exported_to($pack);
    $Test->plan(@_);
    $self->export_to_level(1, $self, 'ok');
}
sub ok {
    my($test, $name) = @_;
    $Test->ok($test, $name);
}

DESCRIPTION

Test::Simple and Test::More have proven to be popular
testing modules, but they're not always flexible enough.
Test::Builder provides the a building block upon which to
write your own test libraries which can work together.

Construction

new: my $Test = Test::Builder->new;
Returns a Test::Builder object representing the cur rent state of the test.
Since you only run one test per program, there is one
and only one Test::Builder object. No matter how many times you call new(), you're getting the same object.
(This is called a singleton).
Setting up tests
These methods are for setting up tests and declaring how many there are. You usually only want to call one of these methods.
exported_to: my $pack = $Test->exported_to;
$Test->exported_to($pack);
Tells Test::Builder what package you exported your functions to. This is important for getting TODO tests right.
plan: $Test->plan('no_plan');
$Test->plan( skip_all => $reason );
$Test->plan( tests => $num_tests );
A convenient way to set up your tests. Call this and Test::Builder will print the appropriate headers and take the appropriate actions.
If you call plan(), don't call any of the other meth ods below.
expected_tests: my $max = $Test->expected_tests;
$Test->expected_tests($max);
Gets/sets the # of tests we expect this test to run and prints out the appropriate headers.
no_plan: $Test->no_plan;
Declares that this test will run an indeterminate # of tests.
has_plan: $plan = $Test->has_plan
Find out whether a plan has been defined. $plan is either "undef" (no plan has been set), "no_plan" (indeterminate # of tests) or an integer (the number of expected tests).
skip_all: $Test->skip_all;
$Test->skip_all($reason);
Skips all the tests, using the given $reason. Exits immediately with 0.
Running tests
These actually run the tests, analogous to the functions in Test::More.
$name is always optional.
ok: $Test->ok($test, $name);
Your basic test. Pass if $test is true, fail if $test is false. Just like Test::Simple's ok().
is_eq: $Test->is_eq($got, $expected, $name);
Like Test::More's is(). Checks if $got eq $expected. This is the string version.
is_num: $Test->is_num($got, $expected, $name);
Like Test::More's is(). Checks if $got == $expected. This is the numeric version.
isnt_eq: $Test->isnt_eq($got, $dont_expect, $name);
Like Test::More's isnt(). Checks if $got ne $dont_expect. This is the string version.
isnt_num: $Test->is_num($got, $dont_expect, $name);
Like Test::More's isnt(). Checks if $got ne $dont_expect. This is the numeric version.
like: $Test->like($this, qr/$regex/, $name);
$Test->like($this, '/$regex/', $name);
Like Test::More's like(). Checks if $this matches the given $regex.
You'll want to avoid qr// if you want your tests to work before 5.005.
unlike: $Test->unlike($this, qr/$regex/, $name);
$Test->unlike($this, '/$regex/', $name);
Like Test::More's unlike(). Checks if $this does not match the given $regex.
maybe_regex: $Test->maybe_regex(qr/$regex/);
$Test->maybe_regex('/$regex/');
Convenience method for building testing functions that take regular expressions as arguments, but need to work before perl 5.005.
Takes a quoted regular expression produced by qr//, or a string representing a regular expression.
Returns a Perl value which may be used instead of the corresponding regular expression, or undef if it's argument is not recognised.
For example, a version of like(), sans the useful diagnostic messages, could be written as:: sub laconic_like {
my ($self, $this, $regex, $name) = @_;
my $usable_regex = $self->maybe_regex($regex);
die "expecting regex, found '$regex'0
unless $usable_regex;

$self->ok($this =~ m/$usable_regex/, $name);; }
cmp_ok: $Test->cmp_ok($this, $type, $that, $name);
Works just like Test::More's cmp_ok().: $Test->cmp_ok($big_num, '!=', $other_big_num);
BAILOUT: $Test->BAILOUT($reason);
Indicates to the Test::Harness that things are going so badly all testing should terminate. This includes running any additional test scripts.
It will exit with 255.
skip: $Test->skip;
$Test->skip($why);
Skips the current test, reporting $why.
todo_skip: $Test->todo_skip;
$Test->todo_skip($why);
Like skip(), only it will declare the test as failing and TODO. Similar to: print "not ok $tnum # TODO $why0;
Test style
level: $Test->level($how_high);
How far up the call stack should $Test look when reporting where the test failed.
Defaults to 1.
Setting $Test::Builder::Level overrides. This is typ ically useful localized:: {
local $Test::Builder::Level = 2;
$Test->ok($test);; }
use_numbers: $Test->use_numbers($on_or_off);
Whether or not the test should output numbers. That is, this if true:: ok 1
ok 2
ok 3
or this if false: ok
ok
ok
Most useful when you can't depend on the test output order, such as when threads or forking is involved.
Test::Harness will accept either, but avoid mixing the two styles.
Defaults to on.
no_header: $Test->no_header($no_header);
If set to true, no "1..N" header will be printed.
no_ending: $Test->no_ending($no_ending);
Normally, Test::Builder does some extra diagnostics when the test ends. It also changes the exit code as described in Test::Simple.
If this is true, none of that will be done.
Output
Controlling where the test output goes.
It's ok for your test to change where STDOUT and STDERR point to, Test::Builder's default output settings will not be affected.
diag: $Test->diag(@msgs);
Prints out the given $message. Normally, it uses the
failure_output() handle, but if this is for a TODO test, the todo_output() handle is used.
Output will be indented and marked with a # so as not to interfere with test output. A newline will be put on the end if there isn't one already.
We encourage using this rather than calling print directly.
Returns false. Why? Because diag() is often used in conjunction with a failing test ("ok() || diag()") it "passes through" the failure.: return ok(...) || diag(...);
output: $Test->output($fh);
$Test->output($file);
Where normal "ok/not ok" test output should go.
Defaults to STDOUT.
failure_output: $Test->failure_output($fh);
$Test->failure_output($file);
Where diagnostic output on test failures and diag() should go.
Defaults to STDERR.
todo_output: $Test->todo_output($fh);
$Test->todo_output($file);
Where diagnostics about todo test failures and diag() should go.
Defaults to STDOUT.
Test Status and Info
current_test: my $curr_test = $Test->current_test;
$Test->current_test($num);
Gets/sets the current test # we're on.
You usually shouldn't have to set this.
summary: my @tests = $Test->summary;
A simple summary of the tests so far. True for pass, false for fail. This is a logical pass/fail, so todos are passes.
Of course, test #1 is $tests[0], etc...
details: my @tests = $Test->details;
Like summary(), but with a lot more detail.: $tests[$test_num - 1] =
{ 'ok' => is the test considered a

pass?
actual_ok => did it literally say 'ok'?
name => name of the test (if any)
type => type of test (if any, see

below).
reason => reason for the above (if

any)

};
'ok' is true if Test::Harness will consider the test to be a pass.
'actual_ok' is a reflection of whether or not the test literally printed 'ok' or 'not ok'. This is for exam ining the result of 'todo' tests.
'name' is the name of the test.
'type' indicates if it was a special test. Normal tests have a type of ''. Type can be one of the fol lowing:: skip see skip()
todo see todo()
todo_skip see todo_skip()
unknown see below
Sometimes the Test::Builder test counter is incre
mented without it printing any test output, for exam
ple, when current_test() is changed. In these cases, Test::Builder doesn't know the result of the test, so
it's type is 'unkown'. These details for these tests
are filled in. They are considered ok, but the name
and actual_ok is left undef.
For example "not ok 23 - hole count # TODO insuffi cient donuts" would result in this structure:: $tests[22] = # 23 - 1, since arrays start from; 0.
{ ok => 1, # logically, the test passed

since it's todo
actual_ok => 0, # in absolute terms, it

failed
name => 'hole count',
type => 'todo',
reason => 'insufficient donuts'

};
todo: my $todo_reason = $Test->todo;
my $todo_reason = $Test->todo($pack);
todo() looks for a $TODO variable in your tests. If set, all tests will be considered 'todo' (see Test::More and Test::Harness for details). Returns the reason (ie. the value of $TODO) if running as todo tests, false otherwise.
todo() is pretty part about finding the right package
to look for $TODO in. It uses the exported_to() pack age to find it. If that's not set, it's pretty good
at guessing the right package to look at.
Sometimes there is some confusion about where todo() should be looking for the $TODO variable. If you want to be sure, tell it explicitly what $pack to use.
caller: my $package = $Test->caller;
my($pack, $file, $line) = $Test->caller;
my($pack, $file, $line) = $Test->caller($height);
Like the normal caller(), except it reports according to your level().

THREADS

In perl 5.8.0 and later, Test::Builder is thread-safe.
The test number is shared amongst all threads. This means
if one thread sets the test number using current_test() they will all be effected.

EXAMPLES

CPAN can provide the best examples. Test::Simple,
Test::More, Test::Exception and Test::Differences all use
Test::Builder.

AUTHORS

Original code by chromatic, maintained by Michael G Schw
ern <schwern@pobox.com>

COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2002 by chromatic <chromatic@wgz.org>,: Michael G Schwern <schwern@pobox.com>.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
See http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html

docs.sk

comprehensive documentation repository

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