Test::Harness(3) Perl Programmers Reference Guide Test::Harness(3)NAMETest::Harness - Run Perl standard test scripts with statistics
VERSION
Version 2.56
SYNOPSIS
use Test::Harness;
runtests(@test_files);
DESCRIPTION
STOP! If all you want to do is write a test script, consider using
Test::Simple. Test::Harness is the module that reads the output from
Test::Simple, Test::More and other modules based on Test::Builder. You
don't need to know about Test::Harness to use those modules.
Test::Harness runs tests and expects output from the test in a certain
format. That format is called TAP, the Test Anything Protocol. It is
defined in Test::Harness::TAP.
"Test::Harness::runtests(@tests)" runs all the testscripts named as
arguments and checks standard output for the expected strings in TAP
format.
The prove utility is a thin wrapper around Test::Harness.
Taint mode
Test::Harness will honor the "-T" or "-t" in the #! line on your test
files. So if you begin a test with:
#!perl -T
the test will be run with taint mode on.
Configuration variables.
These variables can be used to configure the behavior of Test::Harness.
They are exported on request.
$Test::Harness::Verbose
The package variable $Test::Harness::Verbose is exportable and can
be used to let "runtests()" display the standard output of the
script without altering the behavior otherwise. The prove util‐
ity's "-v" flag will set this.
$Test::Harness::switches
The package variable $Test::Harness::switches is exportable and can
be used to set perl command line options used for running the test
script(s). The default value is "-w". It overrides "HAR‐
NESS_SWITCHES".
$Test::Harness::Timer
If set to true, and "Time::HiRes" is available, print elapsed sec‐
onds after each test file.
Failure
When tests fail, analyze the summary report:
t/base..............ok
t/nonumbers.........ok
t/ok................ok
t/test-harness......ok
t/waterloo..........dubious
Test returned status 3 (wstat 768, 0x300)
DIED. FAILED tests 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19
Failed 10/20 tests, 50.00% okay
Failed Test Stat Wstat Total Fail Failed List of Failed
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
t/waterloo.t 3 768 20 10 50.00% 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19
Failed 1/5 test scripts, 80.00% okay. 10/44 subtests failed, 77.27% okay.
Everything passed but t/waterloo.t. It failed 10 of 20 tests and
exited with non-zero status indicating something dubious happened.
The columns in the summary report mean:
Failed Test
The test file which failed.
Stat
If the test exited with non-zero, this is its exit status.
Wstat
The wait status of the test.
Total
Total number of tests expected to run.
Fail
Number which failed, either from "not ok" or because they never
ran.
Failed
Percentage of the total tests which failed.
List of Failed
A list of the tests which failed. Successive failures may be
abbreviated (ie. 15-20 to indicate that tests 15, 16, 17, 18, 19
and 20 failed).
Functions
Test::Harness currently only has one function, here it is.
runtests
my $allok = runtests(@test_files);
This runs all the given @test_files and divines whether they passed
or failed based on their output to STDOUT (details above). It
prints out each individual test which failed along with a summary
report and a how long it all took.
It returns true if everything was ok. Otherwise it will "die()"
with one of the messages in the DIAGNOSTICS section.
EXPORT
&runtests is exported by Test::Harness by default.
$verbose, $switches and $debug are exported upon request.
DIAGNOSTICS
"All tests successful.\nFiles=%d, Tests=%d, %s"
If all tests are successful some statistics about the performance
are printed.
"FAILED tests %s\n\tFailed %d/%d tests, %.2f%% okay."
For any single script that has failing subtests statistics like the
above are printed.
"Test returned status %d (wstat %d)"
Scripts that return a non-zero exit status, both "$? >> 8" and $?
are printed in a message similar to the above.
"Failed 1 test, %.2f%% okay. %s"
"Failed %d/%d tests, %.2f%% okay. %s"
If not all tests were successful, the script dies with one of the
above messages.
"FAILED--Further testing stopped: %s"
If a single subtest decides that further testing will not make
sense, the script dies with this message.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES THAT TEST::HARNESS SETSTest::Harness sets these before executing the individual tests.
"HARNESS_ACTIVE"
This is set to a true value. It allows the tests to determine if
they are being executed through the harness or by any other means.
"HARNESS_VERSION"
This is the version of Test::Harness.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES THAT AFFECT TEST::HARNESS
"HARNESS_COLUMNS"
This value will be used for the width of the terminal. If it is not
set then it will default to "COLUMNS". If this is not set, it will
default to 80. Note that users of Bourne-sh based shells will need
to "export COLUMNS" for this module to use that variable.
"HARNESS_COMPILE_TEST"
When true it will make harness attempt to compile the test using
"perlcc" before running it.
NOTE This currently only works when sitting in the perl source
directory!
"HARNESS_DEBUG"
If true, Test::Harness will print debugging information about
itself as it runs the tests. This is different from "HARNESS_VER‐
BOSE", which prints the output from the test being run. Setting
$Test::Harness::Debug will override this, or you can use the "-d"
switch in the prove utility.
"HARNESS_FILELEAK_IN_DIR"
When set to the name of a directory, harness will check after each
test whether new files appeared in that directory, and report them
as
LEAKED FILES: scr.tmp 0 my.db
If relative, directory name is with respect to the current direc‐
tory at the moment runtests() was called. Putting absolute path
into "HARNESS_FILELEAK_IN_DIR" may give more predictable results.
"HARNESS_IGNORE_EXITCODE"
Makes harness ignore the exit status of child processes when
defined.
"HARNESS_NOTTY"
When set to a true value, forces it to behave as though STDOUT were
not a console. You may need to set this if you don't want harness
to output more frequent progress messages using carriage returns.
Some consoles may not handle carriage returns properly (which
results in a somewhat messy output).
"HARNESS_PERL"
Usually your tests will be run by $^X, the currently-executing
Perl. However, you may want to have it run by a different exe‐
cutable, such as a threading perl, or a different version.
If you're using the prove utility, you can use the "--perl" switch.
"HARNESS_PERL_SWITCHES"
Its value will be prepended to the switches used to invoke perl on
each test. For example, setting "HARNESS_PERL_SWITCHES" to "-W"
will run all tests with all warnings enabled.
"HARNESS_VERBOSE"
If true, Test::Harness will output the verbose results of running
its tests. Setting $Test::Harness::verbose will override this, or
you can use the "-v" switch in the prove utility.
EXAMPLE
Here's how Test::Harness tests itself
$ cd ~/src/devel/Test-Harness
$ perl -Mblib -e 'use Test::Harness qw(&runtests $verbose);
$verbose=0; runtests @ARGV;' t/*.t
Using /home/schwern/src/devel/Test-Harness/blib
t/base..............ok
t/nonumbers.........ok
t/ok................ok
t/test-harness......ok
All tests successful.
Files=4, Tests=24, 2 wallclock secs ( 0.61 cusr + 0.41 csys = 1.02 CPU)
SEE ALSO
The included prove utility for running test scripts from the command
line, Test and Test::Simple for writing test scripts, Benchmark for the
underlying timing routines, and Devel::Cover for test coverage analy‐
sis.
TODO
Provide a way of running tests quietly (ie. no printing) for automated
validation of tests. This will probably take the form of a version of
runtests() which rather than printing its output returns raw data on
the state of the tests. (Partially done in Test::Harness::Straps)
Document the format.
Fix HARNESS_COMPILE_TEST without breaking its core usage.
Figure a way to report test names in the failure summary.
Rework the test summary so long test names are not truncated as badly.
(Partially done with new skip test styles)
Add option for coverage analysis.
Trap STDERR.
Implement Straps total_results()
Remember exit code
Completely redo the print summary code.
Implement Straps callbacks. (experimentally implemented)
Straps->analyze_file() not taint clean, don't know if it can be
Fix that damned VMS nit.
HARNESS_TODOFAIL to display TODO failures
Add a test for verbose.
Change internal list of test results to a hash.
Fix stats display when there's an overrun.
Fix so perls with spaces in the filename work.
Keeping whittling away at _run_all_tests()
Clean up how the summary is printed. Get rid of those damned formats.
BUGS
HARNESS_COMPILE_TEST currently assumes it's run from the Perl source
directory.
Please use the CPAN bug ticketing system at <http://rt.cpan.org/>. You
can also mail bugs, fixes and enhancements to "<bug-test-harness" at
"rt.cpan.org>".
AUTHORS
Either Tim Bunce or Andreas Koenig, we don't know. What we know for
sure is, that it was inspired by Larry Wall's TEST script that came
with perl distributions for ages. Numerous anonymous contributors
exist. Andreas Koenig held the torch for many years, and then Michael
G Schwern.
Current maintainer is Andy Lester "<andy at petdance.com>".
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2002-2005 by Michael G Schwern "<schwern at pobox.com>", Andy
Lester "<andy at petdance.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>.
perl v5.8.8 2004-05-07 Test::Harness(3)
