PROVE(1) Perl Programmers Reference Guide PROVE(1)

PROVE(1) Perl Programmers Reference Guide PROVE(1) #

PROVE(1) Perl Programmers Reference Guide PROVE(1)

NNAAMMEE #

 prove - Run tests through a TAP harness.

UUSSAAGGEE #

  prove [options] [files or directories]

OOPPTTIIOONNSS #

 Boolean options:

  -v,  --verbose         Print all test lines.
  -l,  --lib             Add 'lib' to the path for your tests (-Ilib).
  -b,  --blib            Add 'blib/lib' and 'blib/arch' to the path for
                         your tests
  -s,  --shuffle         Run the tests in random order.
  -c,  --color           Colored test output (default).
       --nocolor         Do not color test output.
       --count           Show the X/Y test count when not verbose
                         (default)
       --nocount         Disable the X/Y test count.
  -D   --dry             Dry run. Show test that would have run.
  -f,  --failures        Show failed tests.
  -o,  --comments        Show comments.
       --ignore-exit     Ignore exit status from test scripts.
  -m,  --merge           Merge test scripts' STDERR with their STDOUT.
  -r,  --recurse         Recursively descend into directories.
       --reverse         Run the tests in reverse order.
  -q,  --quiet           Suppress some test output while running tests.
  -Q,  --QUIET           Only print summary results.
  -p,  --parse           Show full list of TAP parse errors, if any.
       --directives      Only show results with TODO or SKIP directives.
       --timer           Print elapsed time after each test.
       --trap            Trap Ctrl-C and print summary on interrupt.
       --normalize       Normalize TAP output in verbose output
  -T                     Enable tainting checks.
  -t                     Enable tainting warnings.
  -W                     Enable fatal warnings.
  -w                     Enable warnings.
  -h,  --help            Display this help
  -?,                    Display this help
  -V,  --version         Display the version
  -H,  --man             Longer manpage for prove
       --norc            Don't process default .proverc

 Options that take arguments:

  -I                     Library paths to include.
  -P                     Load plugin (searches App::Prove::Plugin::*.)
  -M                     Load a module.
  -e,  --exec            Interpreter to run the tests ('' for compiled
                         tests.)
       --ext             Set the extension for tests (default '.t')
       --harness         Define test harness to use.  See TAP::Harness.
       --formatter       Result formatter to use. See FORMATTERS.
       --source          Load and/or configure a SourceHandler. See

SOURCE HANDLERS. #

  -a,  --archive out.tgz Store the resulting TAP in an archive file.
  -j,  --jobs N          Run N test jobs in parallel (try 9.)
       --state=opts      Control prove's persistent state.
       --statefile=file  Use `file` instead of `.prove` for state
       --rc=rcfile       Process options from rcfile
       --rules           Rules for parallel vs sequential processing.

NNOOTTEESS #

..pprroovveerrcc If _~_/_._p_r_o_v_e_r_c or _._/_._p_r_o_v_e_r_c exist they will be read and any options they contain processed before the command line options. Options in _._p_r_o_v_e_r_c are specified in the same way as command line options:

     # .proverc
     --state=hot,fast,save
     -j9

 Additional option files may be specified with the "--rc" option.  Default
 option file processing is disabled by the "--norc" option.

 Under Windows and VMS the option file is named ___p_r_o_v_e_r_c rather than
 _._p_r_o_v_e_r_c and is sought only in the current directory.

RReeaaddiinngg ffrroomm “"SSTTDDIINN"” If you have a list of tests (or URLs, or anything else you want to test) in a file, you can add them to your tests by using a ‘-’:

  prove - < my_list_of_things_to_test.txt

 See the "README" in the "examples" directory of this distribution.

DDeeffaauulltt TTeesstt DDiirreeccttoorryy If no files or directories are supplied, “prove” looks for all files matching the pattern “t/*.t”.

CCoolloorreedd TTeesstt OOuuttppuutt Colored test output using TAP::Formatter::Color is the default, but if output is not to a terminal, color is disabled. You can override this by adding the “–color” switch.

 Color support requires Term::ANSIColor and, on windows platforms, also
 Win32::Console::ANSI. If the necessary module(s) are not installed
 colored output will not be available.

EExxiitt CCooddee If the tests fail “prove” will exit with non-zero status.

AArrgguummeennttss ttoo TTeessttss It is possible to supply arguments to tests. To do so separate them from prove’s own arguments with the arisdottle, ‘::’. For example

  prove -v t/mytest.t :: --url http://example.com

 would run _t_/_m_y_t_e_s_t_._t with the options '--url http://example.com'.  When
 running multiple tests they will each receive the same arguments.

“”-–-eexxeecc"" Normally you can just pass a list of Perl tests and the harness will know how to execute them. However, if your tests are not written in Perl or if you want all tests invoked exactly the same way, use the “-e”, or “–exec” switch:

  prove --exec '/usr/bin/ruby -w' t/
  prove --exec '/usr/bin/perl -Tw -mstrict -Ilib' t/
  prove --exec '/path/to/my/customer/exec'

“”-–-mmeerrggee"" If you need to make sure your diagnostics are displayed in the correct order relative to test results you can use the “–merge” option to merge the test scripts’ STDERR into their STDOUT.

 This guarantees that STDOUT (where the test results appear) and STDERR
 (where the diagnostics appear) will stay in sync. The harness will
 display any diagnostics your tests emit on STDERR.

 Caveat: this is a bit of a kludge. In particular note that if anything
 that appears on STDERR looks like a test result the test harness will get
 confused. Use this option only if you understand the consequences and can
 live with the risk.

“”-–-ttrraapp"" The “–trap” option will attempt to trap SIGINT (Ctrl-C) during a test run and display the test summary even if the run is interrupted

“”-–-ssttaattee"" You can ask “prove” to remember the state of previous test runs and select and/or order the tests to be run based on that saved state.

 The "--state" switch requires an argument which must be a comma separated
 list of one or more of the following options.

 "last"
     Run the same tests as the last time the state was saved. This makes
     it possible, for example, to recreate the ordering of a shuffled
     test.

         # Run all tests in random order
         $ prove -b --state=save --shuffle

         # Run them again in the same order
         $ prove -b --state=last

 "failed"
     Run only the tests that failed on the last run.

         # Run all tests
         $ prove -b --state=save

         # Run failures
         $ prove -b --state=failed

     If you also specify the "save" option newly passing tests will be
     excluded from subsequent runs.

         # Repeat until no more failures
         $ prove -b --state=failed,save

 "passed"
     Run only the passed tests from last time. Useful to make sure that no
     new problems have been introduced.

 "all"
     Run all tests in normal order. Multiple options may be specified, so
     to run all tests with the failures from last time first:

         $ prove -b --state=failed,all,save

 "hot"
     Run the tests that most recently failed first. The last failure time
     of each test is stored. The "hot" option causes tests to be run in
     most-recent- failure order.

         $ prove -b --state=hot,save

     Tests that have never failed will not be selected. To run all tests
     with the most recently failed first use

         $ prove -b --state=hot,all,save

     This combination of options may also be specified thus

         $ prove -b --state=adrian

 "todo"
     Run any tests with todos.

 "slow"
     Run the tests in slowest to fastest order. This is useful in
     conjunction with the "-j" parallel testing switch to ensure that your
     slowest tests start running first.

         $ prove -b --state=slow -j9

 "fast"
     Run test tests in fastest to slowest order.

 "new"
     Run the tests in newest to oldest order based on the modification
     times of the test scripts.

 "old"
     Run the tests in oldest to newest order.

 "fresh"
     Run those test scripts that have been modified since the last test
     run.

 "save"
     Save the state on exit. The state is stored in a file called _._p_r_o_v_e
     (___p_r_o_v_e on Windows and VMS) in the current directory.

 The "--state" switch may be used more than once.

     $ prove -b --state=hot --state=all,save

-–-rruulleess The “–rules” option is used to control which tests are run sequentially and which are run in parallel, if the “–jobs” option is specified. The option may be specified multiple times, and the order matters.

 The most practical use is likely to specify that some tests are not
 "parallel-ready".  Since mentioning a file with --rules doesn't cause it
 to be selected to run as a test, you can "set and forget" some rules
 preferences in your .proverc file. Then you'll be able to take maximum
 advantage of the performance benefits of parallel testing, while some
 exceptions are still run in parallel.

 _-_-_r_u_l_e_s _e_x_a_m_p_l_e_s

     # All tests are allowed to run in parallel, except those starting with "p"
     --rules='seq=t/p*.t' --rules='par=**'

     # All tests must run in sequence except those starting with "p", which should be run parallel
     --rules='par=t/p*.t'

 _-_-_r_u_l_e_s _r_e_s_o_l_u_t_i_o_n

 •   By default, all tests are eligible to be run in parallel. Specifying
     any of your own rules removes this one.

 •   "First match wins". The first rule that matches a test will be the
     one that applies.

 •   Any test which does not match a rule will be run in sequence at the
     end of the run.

 •   The existence of a rule does not imply selecting a test. You must
     still specify the tests to run.

 •   Specifying a rule to allow tests to run in parallel does not make
     them run in parallel. You still need specify the number of parallel
     "jobs" in your Harness object.

 _-_-_r_u_l_e_s _G_l_o_b_-_s_t_y_l_e _p_a_t_t_e_r_n _m_a_t_c_h_i_n_g

 We implement our own glob-style pattern matching for --rules. Here are
 the supported patterns:

     ** is any number of characters, including /, within a pathname
     * is zero or more characters within a filename/directory name
     ? is exactly one character within a filename/directory name
     {foo,bar,baz} is any of foo, bar or baz.
     \ is an escape character

 _M_o_r_e _a_d_v_a_n_c_e_d _s_p_e_c_i_f_i_c_a_t_i_o_n_s _f_o_r _p_a_r_a_l_l_e_l _v_s _s_e_q_u_e_n_c_e _r_u_n _r_u_l_e_s

 If you need more advanced management of what runs in parallel vs in
 sequence, see the associated 'rules' documentation in TAP::Harness and
 TAP::Parser::Scheduler.  If what's possible directly through "prove" is
 not sufficient, you can write your own harness to access these features
 directly.

@@IINNCC #

 prove introduces a separation between "options passed to the perl which
 runs prove" and "options passed to the perl which runs tests"; this
 distinction is by design. Thus the perl which is running a test starts
 with the default @INC. Additional library directories can be added via
 the "PERL5LIB" environment variable, via -Ifoo in "PERL5OPT" or via the
 "-Ilib" option to _p_r_o_v_e.

TTaaiinntt MMooddee Normally when a Perl program is run in taint mode the contents of the “PERL5LIB” environment variable do not appear in @INC.

 Because "PERL5LIB" is often used during testing to add build directories
 to @INC prove passes the names of any directories found in "PERL5LIB" as
 -I switches. The net effect of this is that "PERL5LIB" is honoured even
 when prove is run in taint mode.

FFOORRMMAATTTTEERRSS #

 You can load a custom TAP::Parser::Formatter:

   prove --formatter MyFormatter

SSOOUURRCCEE HHAANNDDLLEERRSS #

 You can load custom TAP::Parser::SourceHandlers, to change the way the
 parser interprets particular _s_o_u_r_c_e_s of TAP.

   prove --source MyHandler --source YetAnother t

 If you want to provide config to the source you can use:

   prove --source MyCustom \
         --source Perl --perl-option 'foo=bar baz' --perl-option avg=0.278 \
         --source File --file-option extensions=.txt --file-option extensions=.tmp t
         --source pgTAP --pgtap-option pset=format=html --pgtap-option pset=border=2

 Each "--$source-option" option must specify a key/value pair separated by
 an "=". If an option can take multiple values, just specify it multiple
 times, as with the "extensions=" examples above. If the option should be
 a hash reference, specify the value as a second pair separated by a "=",
 as in the "pset=" examples above (escape "=" with a backslash).

 All "--sources" are combined into a hash, and passed to "new" in
 TAP::Harness's "sources" parameter.

 See TAP::Parser::IteratorFactory for more details on how configuration is
 passed to _S_o_u_r_c_e_H_a_n_d_l_e_r_s.

PPLLUUGGIINNSS #

 Plugins can be loaded using the "-P_p_l_u_g_i_n" syntax, eg:

   prove -PMyPlugin

 This will search for a module named "App::Prove::Plugin::MyPlugin", or
 failing that, "MyPlugin".  If the plugin can't be found, "prove" will
 complain & exit.

 You can pass arguments to your plugin by appending "=arg1,arg2,etc" to
 the plugin name:

   prove -PMyPlugin=fou,du,fafa

 Please check individual plugin documentation for more details.

AAvvaaiillaabbllee PPlluuggiinnss For an up-to-date list of plugins available, please check CPAN:

 <http://search.cpan.org/search?query=App%3A%3AProve+Plugin>

WWrriittiinngg PPlluuggiinnss Please see “PLUGINS” in App::Prove.

perl v5.36.3 2024-03-20 PROVE(1)