Test(3)

NAME
Test - provides a simple framework for writing test scripts

SYNOPSIS
  use strict;
  use Test;

  # use a BEGIN block so we print our plan before MyModule is loaded
  BEGIN { plan tests => 14, todo => [3,4] }

  # load your module...
  use MyModule;

  ok(0); # failure
  ok(1); # success

  ok(0); # ok, expected failure (see todo list, above)
  ok(1); # surprise success!

  ok(0,1);             # failure: '0' ne '1'
  ok('broke','fixed'); # failure: 'broke' ne 'fixed'
  ok('fixed','fixed'); # success: 'fixed' eq 'fixed'
  ok('fixed',qr/x/);   # success: 'fixed' =~ qr/x/

  ok(sub { 1+1 }, 2);  # success: '2' eq '2'
  ok(sub { 1+1 }, 3);  # failure: '2' ne '3'
  ok(0, int(rand(2));  # (just kidding :-)

  my @list = (0,0);
  ok @list, 3, "\@list=".join(',',@list);      #extra diagnostics
  ok 'segmentation fault', '/(?i)success/';    #regex match

  skip($feature_is_missing, ...);    #do platform specific test

DESCRIPTION
STOP! If you are writing a new test, we highly suggest you use the new Test::Simple and Test::More modules instead.

Test::Harness expects to see particular output when it executes tests. This module aims to make writing proper test scripts just a little bit easier (and less error prone :-).

  Functions
All the following are exported by Test by default.

plan
         BEGIN { plan %theplan; }

    This should be the first thing you call in your test script. It declares your testing plan, how many there will be, if any of them should be allowed to fail, etc...

    Typical usage is just:

         use Test;
         BEGIN { plan tests => 23 }

    Things you can put in the plan:

         tests          The number of tests in your script.
                        This means all ok() and skip() calls.
         todo           A reference to a list of tests which are allowed
                        to fail.  See L</TODO TESTS>.
         onfail         A subroutine reference to be run at the end of
                        the test script should any of the tests fail.
                        See L</ONFAIL>.

    You must call plan() once and only once.

ok
      ok(1 + 1 == 2);
      ok($have, $expect);
      ok($have, $expect, $diagnostics);

    This is the reason for Test's existance. Its the basic function that handles printing "ok" or "not ok" along with the current test number.

    In its most basic usage, it simply takes an expression. If its true, the test passes, if false, the test fails. Simp.

        ok( 1 + 1 == 2 );           # ok if 1 + 1 == 2
        ok( $foo =~ /bar/ );        # ok if $foo contains 'bar'
        ok( baz($x + $y) eq 'Armondo' );    # ok if baz($x + $y) returns
                                            # 'Armondo'
        ok( @a == @b );             # ok if @a and @b are the same length

    The expression is evaluated in scalar context. So the following will work:

        ok( @stuff );                       # ok if @stuff has any elements
        ok( !grep !defined $_, @stuff );    # ok if everything in @stuff is
                                            # defined.

    A special case is if the expression is a subroutine reference. In that case, it is executed and its value (true or false) determines if the test passes or fails.

    In its two argument form it compares the two values to see if they equal (with "eq").

        ok( "this", "that" );               # not ok, 'this' ne 'that'

    If either is a subroutine reference, that is run and used as a comparison.

    Should $expect either be a regex reference (ie. qr//) or a string that looks like a regex (ie. '/foo/') ok() will perform a pattern match against it rather than using eq.

        ok( 'JaffO', '/Jaff/' );    # ok, 'JaffO' =~ /Jaff/
        ok( 'JaffO', qr/Jaff/ );    # ok, 'JaffO' =~ qr/Jaff/;
        ok( 'JaffO', '/(?i)jaff/ ); # ok, 'JaffO' =~ /jaff/i;

    Finally, an optional set of $diagnostics will be printed should the test fail. This should usually be some useful information about the test pertaining to why it failed or perhaps a description of the test. Or both.

        ok( grep($_ eq 'something unique', @stuff), 1,
            "Something that should be unique isn't!\n".
            '@stuff = '.join ', ', @stuff
          );

    Unfortunately, a diagnostic cannot be used with the single argument style of ok().

    All these special cases can cause some problems. See "BUGS and CAVEATS".

TEST TYPES

• NORMAL TESTS
    These tests are expected to succeed. If they don't something's screwed up!

• SKIPPED TESTS
    Skip is for tests that might or might not be possible to run depending on the availability of platform specific features. The first argument should evaluate to true (think "yes, please skip") if the required feature is not available. After the first argument, skip works exactly the same way as do normal tests.

• TODO TESTS
    TODO tests are designed for maintaining an executable TODO list. These tests are expected NOT to succeed. If a TODO test does succeed, the feature in question should not be on the TODO list, now should it?

    Packages should NOT be released with succeeding TODO tests. As soon as a TODO test starts working, it should be promoted to a normal test and the newly working feature should be documented in the release notes or change log.

ONFAIL
  BEGIN { plan test => 4, onfail => sub { warn "CALL 911!" } }

While test failures should be enough, extra diagnostics can be triggered at the end of a test run. "onfail" is passed an array ref of hash refs that describe each test failure. Each hash will contain at least the following fields: "package", "repetition", and "result". (The file, line, and test number are not included because their correspondence to a particular test is tenuous.) If the test had an expected value or a diagnostic string, these will also be included.

The optional "onfail" hook might be used simply to print out the version of your package and/or how to report problems. It might also be used to generate extremely sophisticated diagnostics for a particularly bizarre test failure. However it's not a panacea. Core dumps or other unrecoverable errors prevent the "onfail" hook from running. (It is run inside an "END" block.) Besides, "onfail" is probably over-kill in most cases. (Your test code should be simpler than the code it is testing, yes?)

BUGS and CAVEATS
ok()'s special handling of subroutine references is an unfortunate "feature" that can't be removed due to compatibility.

ok()'s use of string eq can sometimes cause odd problems when comparing numbers, especially if you're casting a string to a number:

    $foo = "1.0";
    ok( $foo, 1 );      # not ok, "1.0" ne 1

Your best bet is to use the single argument form:

    ok( $foo == 1 );    # ok "1.0" == 1

ok()'s special handing of strings which look like they might be regexes can also cause unexpected behavior. An innocent:

    ok( $fileglob, '/path/to/some/*stuff/' );

will fail since Test.pm considers the second argument to a regex. Again, best bet is to use the single argument form:

    ok( $fileglob eq '/path/to/some/*stuff/' );

NOTE
This module is no longer actively being developed, only bug fixes and small tweaks (I'll still accept patches). If you desire additional functionality, consider Test::More or Test::Unit.

SEE ALSO
Test::Simple, Test::More, Test::Harness, Devel::Cover

Test::Builder for building your own testing library.

Test::Unit is an interesting XUnit-style testing library.

Test::Inline and SelfTest let you embed tests in code.

AUTHOR
Copyright (c) 1998-2000 Joshua Nathaniel Pritikin. All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2001-2002 Michael G Schwern.

Current maintainer, Michael G Schwern <schwern@pobox.com>

This package is free software and is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty. It may be used, redistributed and/or modified under the same terms as Perl itself.