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Test::Assertions(3pm) User Contributed Perl DocumentationTest::Assertions(3pm)

NAME
       Test::Assertions - a simple set of building blocks for both unit and
       runtime testing

SYNOPSIS
               #ASSERT does nothing
               use Test::Assertions;

               #ASSERT warns "Assertion failure"...
               use Test::Assertions qw(warn);

               #ASSERT dies with "Assertion failure"...
               use Test::Assertions qw(die);

               #ASSERT warns "Assertion failure"... with stack trace
               use Test::Assertions qw(cluck);

               #ASSERT dies with "Assertion failure"... with stack trace
               use Test::Assertions qw(confess);

               #ASSERT prints ok/not ok
               use Test::Assertions qw(test);

               #Will cause an assertion failure
               ASSERT(1 == 0);

               #Optional message
               ASSERT(0 == 1, "daft");

               #Checks if coderef dies
               ASSERT(
                       DIED( sub {die()} )
               );

               #Check if perl compiles OK
               ASSERT(
                       COMPILES('program.pl')
               );

               #Deep comparisons
               ASSERT(
                       EQUAL(\@a, \@b),
                       "lists of widgets match"        # an optional message
               );
               ASSERT(
                       EQUAL(\%a, \%b)
               );

               #Compare to a canned value
               ASSERT(
                       EQUALS_FILE($foo, 'bar.dat'),
                       "value matched stored value"
               );

               #Compare to a canned value (regex match using file contents as regex)
               ASSERT(
                       MATCHES_FILE($foo, 'bar.regex')
               );

               #Compare file contents
               ASSERT(
                       FILES_EQUAL('foo.dat', 'bar.dat')
               );

               #returns 'not ok for Foo::Bar Tests (1 errors in 3 tests)'
               ASSESS(
                        ['ok 1', 'not ok 2', 'A comment', 'ok 3'], 'Foo::Bar Tests', 0
               );

               #Collate results from another test script
               ASSESS_FILE("test.pl");

               #File routines
               $success = WRITE_FILE('bar.dat', 'hello world');
               ASSERT( WRITE_FILE('bar.dat', 'hello world'), 'file was written');
               $string = READ_FILE('example.out');
               ASSERT( READ_FILE('example.out'), 'file has content' );

       The helper routines don't need to be used inside ASSERT():

               if ( EQUALS_FILE($string, $filename) ) {
                       print "File hasn't changed - skipping\n";
               } else {
                       my $rc = run_complex_process($string);
                       print "File changed - string was reprocessed with result '$rc'\n";
               }

               ($boolean, $output) = COMPILES('file.pl');
               # or...
               my $string;
               ($boolean, $standard_output) = COMPILES('file.pl', 1, \$string);
               # $string now contains standard error, separate from $standard_output

       In test mode:

               use Test::Assertions qw(test);
               plan tests => 4;
               plan tests;                                     #will attempt to deduce the number
               only (1,2);                                     #Only report ok/not ok for these tests
               ignore 2;                                       #Skip this test

               #In test/ok mode...
               use Test::Assertions qw(test/ok);
               ok(1);                                          #synonym for ASSERT

DESCRIPTION
       Test::Assertions provides a convenient set of tools for constructing
       tests, such as unit tests or run-time assertion checks (like C's ASSERT
       macro).  Unlike some of the Test:: modules available on CPAN,
       Test::Assertions is not limited to unit test scripts; for example it
       can be used to check output is as expected within a benchmarking
       script.  When it is used for unit tests, it generates output in the
       standard form for CPAN unit testing (under Test::Harness).

       The package's import method is used to control the behaviour of ASSERT:
       whether it dies, warns, prints 'ok'/'not ok', or does nothing.

       In 'test' mode the script also exports plan(), only() and ignore()
       functions.  In 'test/ok' mode an ok() function is also exported for
       compatibility with Test/Test::Harness.  The plan function attempts to
       count the number of tests if it isn't told a number (this works fine in
       simple test scripts but not in loops/subroutines). In either mode, a
       warning will be emitted if the planned number of tests is not the same
       as the number of tests actually run, e.g.

               # Looks like you planned 2 tests but actually ran 1.

   METHODS
       plan $number_of_tests
           Specify the number of tests to expect. If $number_of_tests isn't
           supplied, ASSERTION tries to deduce the number itself by parsing
           the calling script and counting the number of calls to ASSERT.  It
           also returns the number of tests, should you wish to make use of
           that figure at some point.  In 'test' and 'test/ok' mode a warning
           will be emitted if the actual number of tests does not match the
           number planned, similar to Test::More.

       only(@test_numbers)
           Only display the results of these tests

       ignore(@test_numbers)
           Don't display the results of these tests

       ASSERT($bool, $comment)
           The workhorse function.  Behaviour depends on how the module was
           imported.  $comment is optional.

       ASSESS(@result_strings)
           Collate the results from a set of tests.  In a scalar context
           returns a result string starting with "ok" or "not ok"; in a list
           context returns 1=pass or 0=fail, followed by a description.

            ($bool, $desc) = ASSESS(@args)

           is equivalent to

            ($bool, $desc) = INTERPRET(scalar ASSESS(@args))

       ASSESS_FILE($file, $verbose, $timeout)
            $verbose is an optional boolean
            default timeout is 60 seconds (0=never timeout)

           In a scalar context returns a result string; in a list context
           returns 1=pass or 0=fail, followed by a description.  The timeout
           uses alarm(), but has no effect on platforms which do not implement
           alarm().

       ($bool, $desc) = INTERPRET($result_string)
           Inteprets a result string.  $bool indicates 1=pass/0=fail; $desc is
           an optional description.

       $bool = EQUAL($item1, $item2)
           Deep comparison of 2 data structures (i.e. references to some kind
           of structure) or scalars.

       $bool = EQUALS_FILE($string, $filename)
           Compares a string with a canned value in a file.

       $bool = MATCHES_FILE($string, $regexfilename)
           Compares a value with a regex that is read from a file. The regex
           has the '^' anchor prepended and the '$' anchor appended, after
           being read in from the file.  Handy if you have random numbers or
           dates in your output.

       $bool = FILES_EQUAL($filename1, $filename2)
           Test if 2 files' contents are identical

       $bool = DIED($coderef)
           Test if the coderef died

       COMPILES($filename, $strict, $scalar_reference)
           Test if the perl code in $filename compiles OK, like perl -c.  If
           $strict is true, tests with the options -Mstrict -w.

           In scalar context it returns 1 if the code compiled, 0 otherwise.
           In list context it returns the same boolean, followed by the output
           (that is, standard output and standard error combined) of the
           syntax check.

           If $scalar_reference is supplied and is a scalar reference then the
           standard output and standard error of the syntax check subprocess
           will be captured separately. Standard error will be put into this
           scalar - IO::CaptureOutput is loaded on demand to do this - and
           standard output will be returned as described above.

       $contents = READ_FILE($filename)
           Reads the specified file and returns the contents.  Returns undef
           if file cannot be read.

       $success = WRITE_FILE($filename, $contents)
           Writes the given contents to the specified file.  Returns undef if
           file cannot be written.

OVERHEAD
       When Test::Assertions is imported with no arguments, ASSERT is aliased
       to an empty coderef.  If this is still too much runtime overhead for
       you, you can use a constant to optimise out ASSERT statements at
       compile time.  See the section on runtime testing in
       Test::Assertions::Manual for a discussion of overheads, some examples
       and some benchmark results.

DEPENDENCIES
       The following modules are loaded on demand:

        Carp
        File::Spec
        Test::More
        File::Compare
        IO::CaptureOutput

RELATED MODULES
       Test and Test::Simple
           Minimal unit testing modules

       Test::More
           Richer unit testing toolkit compatible with Test and Test::Simple

       Carp::Assert
           Runtime testing toolkit

TODO
               - Declare ASSERT() with :assertions attribute in versions of perl >= 5.9
                 so it can be optimised away at runtime. It should be possible to declare
                 the attribute conditionally in a BEGIN block (with eval) for backwards
                 compatibility

SEE ALSO
       Test::Assertions::Manual - A guide to using Test::Assertions

VERSION
       $Revision: 1.54 $ on $Date: 2006/08/07 10:44:42 $ by $Author: simonf $

AUTHOR
       John Alden with additions from Piers Kent and Simon Flack <cpan _at_
       bbc _dot_ co _dot_ uk>

COPYRIGHT
       (c) BBC 2005. This program is free software; you can redistribute it
       and/or modify it under the GNU GPL.

       See the file COPYING in this distribution, or
       http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.txt

perl v5.36.0                      2022-11-19             Test::Assertions(3pm)

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