advanced.md 83.1 KB
Newer Older
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1
# Advanced googletest Topics
2

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
3
## Introduction
4

5
6
7
8
9
Now that you have read the [googletest Primer](primer.md) and learned how to
write tests using googletest, it's time to learn some new tricks. This document
will show you more assertions as well as how to construct complex failure
messages, propagate fatal failures, reuse and speed up your test fixtures, and
use various flags with your tests.
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
10
11

## More Assertions
12
13
14
15

This section covers some less frequently used, but still significant,
assertions.

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
16
### Explicit Success and Failure
17

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
18
19
See [Explicit Success and Failure](reference/assertions.md#success-failure) in
the Assertions Reference.
20

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
21
### Exception Assertions
22

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
23
24
See [Exception Assertions](reference/assertions.md#exceptions) in the Assertions
Reference.
25

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
26
### Predicate Assertions for Better Error Messages
27

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
28
29
30
31
32
Even though googletest has a rich set of assertions, they can never be complete,
as it's impossible (nor a good idea) to anticipate all scenarios a user might
run into. Therefore, sometimes a user has to use `EXPECT_TRUE()` to check a
complex expression, for lack of a better macro. This has the problem of not
showing you the values of the parts of the expression, making it hard to
33
34
35
36
37
understand what went wrong. As a workaround, some users choose to construct the
failure message by themselves, streaming it into `EXPECT_TRUE()`. However, this
is awkward especially when the expression has side-effects or is expensive to
evaluate.

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
38
googletest gives you three different options to solve this problem:
39

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
40
#### Using an Existing Boolean Function
41

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
42
43
If you already have a function or functor that returns `bool` (or a type that
can be implicitly converted to `bool`), you can use it in a *predicate
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
44
45
46
assertion* to get the function arguments printed for free. See
[`EXPECT_PRED*`](reference/assertions.md#EXPECT_PRED) in the Assertions
Reference for details.
47

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
48
#### Using a Function That Returns an AssertionResult
49

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
50
51
52
53
While `EXPECT_PRED*()` and friends are handy for a quick job, the syntax is not
satisfactory: you have to use different macros for different arities, and it
feels more like Lisp than C++. The `::testing::AssertionResult` class solves
this problem.
54

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
55
56
57
An `AssertionResult` object represents the result of an assertion (whether it's
a success or a failure, and an associated message). You can create an
`AssertionResult` using one of these factory functions:
58

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
59
```c++
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
namespace testing {

// Returns an AssertionResult object to indicate that an assertion has
// succeeded.
AssertionResult AssertionSuccess();

// Returns an AssertionResult object to indicate that an assertion has
// failed.
AssertionResult AssertionFailure();

}
```

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
73
74
You can then use the `<<` operator to stream messages to the `AssertionResult`
object.
75

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
76
77
78
To provide more readable messages in Boolean assertions (e.g. `EXPECT_TRUE()`),
write a predicate function that returns `AssertionResult` instead of `bool`. For
example, if you define `IsEven()` as:
79

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
80
```c++
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
81
testing::AssertionResult IsEven(int n) {
82
  if ((n % 2) == 0)
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
83
    return testing::AssertionSuccess();
84
  else
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
85
    return testing::AssertionFailure() << n << " is odd";
86
87
88
89
90
}
```

instead of:

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
91
```c++
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
bool IsEven(int n) {
  return (n % 2) == 0;
}
```

the failed assertion `EXPECT_TRUE(IsEven(Fib(4)))` will print:

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
99
100
101
102
103
```none
Value of: IsEven(Fib(4))
  Actual: false (3 is odd)
Expected: true
```
104
105
106

instead of a more opaque

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
107
108
109
110
111
```none
Value of: IsEven(Fib(4))
  Actual: false
Expected: true
```
112

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
113
114
115
116
If you want informative messages in `EXPECT_FALSE` and `ASSERT_FALSE` as well
(one third of Boolean assertions in the Google code base are negative ones), and
are fine with making the predicate slower in the success case, you can supply a
success message:
117

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
118
```c++
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
119
testing::AssertionResult IsEven(int n) {
120
  if ((n % 2) == 0)
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
121
    return testing::AssertionSuccess() << n << " is even";
122
  else
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
123
    return testing::AssertionFailure() << n << " is odd";
124
125
126
127
128
}
```

Then the statement `EXPECT_FALSE(IsEven(Fib(6)))` will print

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
129
130
131
132
133
```none
  Value of: IsEven(Fib(6))
     Actual: true (8 is even)
  Expected: false
```
134

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
135
#### Using a Predicate-Formatter
136

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
If you find the default message generated by
[`EXPECT_PRED*`](reference/assertions.md#EXPECT_PRED) and
[`EXPECT_TRUE`](reference/assertions.md#EXPECT_TRUE) unsatisfactory, or some
arguments to your predicate do not support streaming to `ostream`, you can
instead use *predicate-formatter assertions* to *fully* customize how the
message is formatted. See
[`EXPECT_PRED_FORMAT*`](reference/assertions.md#EXPECT_PRED_FORMAT) in the
Assertions Reference for details.
145

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
146
### Floating-Point Comparison
147

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
148
149
See [Floating-Point Comparison](reference/assertions.md#floating-point) in the
Assertions Reference.
150

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
151
#### Floating-Point Predicate-Format Functions
152

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
153
154
Some floating-point operations are useful, but not that often used. In order to
avoid an explosion of new macros, we provide them as predicate-format functions
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
155
156
157
that can be used in the predicate assertion macro
[`EXPECT_PRED_FORMAT2`](reference/assertions.md#EXPECT_PRED_FORMAT), for
example:
158

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
159
```c++
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
160
161
EXPECT_PRED_FORMAT2(testing::FloatLE, val1, val2);
EXPECT_PRED_FORMAT2(testing::DoubleLE, val1, val2);
162
163
```

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
164
165
The above code verifies that `val1` is less than, or approximately equal to,
`val2`.
166

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
167
168
### Asserting Using gMock Matchers

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
169
170
See [`EXPECT_THAT`](reference/assertions.md#EXPECT_THAT) in the Assertions
Reference.
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
171
172
173

### More String Assertions

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
174
175
(Please read the [previous](#asserting-using-gmock-matchers) section first if
you haven't.)
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
176

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
177
You can use the gMock [string matchers](reference/matchers.md#string-matchers)
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
178
179
180
with [`EXPECT_THAT`](reference/assertions.md#EXPECT_THAT) to do more string
comparison tricks (sub-string, prefix, suffix, regular expression, and etc). For
example,
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190

```c++
using ::testing::HasSubstr;
using ::testing::MatchesRegex;
...
  ASSERT_THAT(foo_string, HasSubstr("needle"));
  EXPECT_THAT(bar_string, MatchesRegex("\\w*\\d+"));
```

### Windows HRESULT assertions
191

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
192
193
See [Windows HRESULT Assertions](reference/assertions.md#HRESULT) in the
Assertions Reference.
194

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
195
### Type Assertions
196
197

You can call the function
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
198
199

```c++
200
201
202
::testing::StaticAssertTypeEq<T1, T2>();
```

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
203
204
to assert that types `T1` and `T2` are the same. The function does nothing if
the assertion is satisfied. If the types are different, the function call will
kuzkry's avatar
kuzkry committed
205
fail to compile, the compiler error message will say that
206
`T1 and T2 are not the same type` and most likely (depending on the compiler)
kuzkry's avatar
kuzkry committed
207
208
show you the actual values of `T1` and `T2`. This is mainly useful inside
template code.
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
209
210
211
212
213
214

**Caveat**: When used inside a member function of a class template or a function
template, `StaticAssertTypeEq<T1, T2>()` is effective only if the function is
instantiated. For example, given:

```c++
215
216
template <typename T> class Foo {
 public:
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
217
  void Bar() { testing::StaticAssertTypeEq<int, T>(); }
218
219
};
```
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
220

221
the code:
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
222
223

```c++
224
225
void Test1() { Foo<bool> foo; }
```
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
226
227
228
229
230

will not generate a compiler error, as `Foo<bool>::Bar()` is never actually
instantiated. Instead, you need:

```c++
231
232
void Test2() { Foo<bool> foo; foo.Bar(); }
```
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
233

234
235
to cause a compiler error.

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
236
### Assertion Placement
237

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
You can use assertions in any C++ function. In particular, it doesn't have to be
a method of the test fixture class. The one constraint is that assertions that
generate a fatal failure (`FAIL*` and `ASSERT_*`) can only be used in
void-returning functions. This is a consequence of Google's not using
exceptions. By placing it in a non-void function you'll get a confusing compile
error like `"error: void value not ignored as it ought to be"` or `"cannot
initialize return object of type 'bool' with an rvalue of type 'void'"` or
`"error: no viable conversion from 'void' to 'string'"`.
246

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
247
248
If you need to use fatal assertions in a function that returns non-void, one
option is to make the function return the value in an out parameter instead. For
249
250
251
252
253
example, you can rewrite `T2 Foo(T1 x)` to `void Foo(T1 x, T2* result)`. You
need to make sure that `*result` contains some sensible value even when the
function returns prematurely. As the function now returns `void`, you can use
any assertion inside of it.

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
254
255
If changing the function's type is not an option, you should just use assertions
that generate non-fatal failures, such as `ADD_FAILURE*` and `EXPECT_*`.
256

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
257
{: .callout .note}
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
258
259
NOTE: Constructors and destructors are not considered void-returning functions,
according to the C++ language specification, and so you may not use fatal
260
261
262
263
264
assertions in them; you'll get a compilation error if you try. Instead, either
call `abort` and crash the entire test executable, or put the fatal assertion in
a `SetUp`/`TearDown` function; see
[constructor/destructor vs. `SetUp`/`TearDown`](faq.md#CtorVsSetUp)

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
265
{: .callout .warning}
266
WARNING: A fatal assertion in a helper function (private void-returning method)
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
267
268
called from a constructor or destructor does not terminate the current test, as
your intuition might suggest: it merely returns from the constructor or
269
270
271
destructor early, possibly leaving your object in a partially-constructed or
partially-destructed state! You almost certainly want to `abort` or use
`SetUp`/`TearDown` instead.
272

273
274
## Skipping test execution

275
276
Related to the assertions `SUCCEED()` and `FAIL()`, you can prevent further test
execution at runtime with the `GTEST_SKIP()` macro. This is useful when you need
277
278
to check for preconditions of the system under test during runtime and skip
tests in a meaningful way.
279

280
281
282
`GTEST_SKIP()` can be used in individual test cases or in the `SetUp()` methods
of classes derived from either `::testing::Environment` or `::testing::Test`.
For example:
283
284

```c++
285
286
287
288
289
290
TEST(SkipTest, DoesSkip) {
  GTEST_SKIP() << "Skipping single test";
  EXPECT_EQ(0, 1);  // Won't fail; it won't be executed
}

class SkipFixture : public ::testing::Test {
291
292
 protected:
  void SetUp() override {
293
    GTEST_SKIP() << "Skipping all tests for this fixture";
294
295
296
  }
};

297
298
299
// Tests for SkipFixture won't be executed.
TEST_F(SkipFixture, SkipsOneTest) {
  EXPECT_EQ(5, 7);  // Won't fail
300
301
302
}
```

303
As with assertion macros, you can stream a custom message into `GTEST_SKIP()`.
304

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
305
## Teaching googletest How to Print Your Values
306

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
307
308
When a test assertion such as `EXPECT_EQ` fails, googletest prints the argument
values to help you debug. It does this using a user-extensible value printer.
309
310

This printer knows how to print built-in C++ types, native arrays, STL
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
311
312
containers, and any type that supports the `<<` operator. For other types, it
prints the raw bytes in the value and hopes that you the user can figure it out.
313

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
314
315
316
As mentioned earlier, the printer is *extensible*. That means you can teach it
to do a better job at printing your particular type than to dump the bytes. To
do that, define `<<` for your type:
317

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
318
319
```c++
#include <ostream>
320
321
322

namespace foo {

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
323
324
325
class Bar {  // We want googletest to be able to print instances of this.
...
  // Create a free inline friend function.
326
  friend std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& os, const Bar& bar) {
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
327
328
329
    return os << bar.DebugString();  // whatever needed to print bar to os
  }
};
330

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
331
332
333
// If you can't declare the function in the class it's important that the
// << operator is defined in the SAME namespace that defines Bar.  C++'s look-up
// rules rely on that.
334
std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& os, const Bar& bar) {
335
336
337
338
339
340
  return os << bar.DebugString();  // whatever needed to print bar to os
}

}  // namespace foo
```

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
341
342
343
344
Sometimes, this might not be an option: your team may consider it bad style to
have a `<<` operator for `Bar`, or `Bar` may already have a `<<` operator that
doesn't do what you want (and you cannot change it). If so, you can instead
define a `PrintTo()` function like this:
345

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
346
347
```c++
#include <ostream>
348
349
350

namespace foo {

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
351
352
class Bar {
  ...
353
  friend void PrintTo(const Bar& bar, std::ostream* os) {
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
354
355
356
    *os << bar.DebugString();  // whatever needed to print bar to os
  }
};
357

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
358
359
360
// If you can't declare the function in the class it's important that PrintTo()
// is defined in the SAME namespace that defines Bar.  C++'s look-up rules rely
// on that.
361
void PrintTo(const Bar& bar, std::ostream* os) {
362
363
364
365
366
367
  *os << bar.DebugString();  // whatever needed to print bar to os
}

}  // namespace foo
```

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
368
369
370
371
If you have defined both `<<` and `PrintTo()`, the latter will be used when
googletest is concerned. This allows you to customize how the value appears in
googletest's output without affecting code that relies on the behavior of its
`<<` operator.
372

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
373
374
If you want to print a value `x` using googletest's value printer yourself, just
call `::testing::PrintToString(x)`, which returns an `std::string`:
375

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
376
```c++
377
378
379
vector<pair<Bar, int> > bar_ints = GetBarIntVector();

EXPECT_TRUE(IsCorrectBarIntVector(bar_ints))
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
380
    << "bar_ints = " << testing::PrintToString(bar_ints);
381
382
```

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
383
## Death Tests
384

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
In many applications, there are assertions that can cause application failure if
a condition is not met. These sanity checks, which ensure that the program is in
a known good state, are there to fail at the earliest possible time after some
program state is corrupted. If the assertion checks the wrong condition, then
the program may proceed in an erroneous state, which could lead to memory
corruption, security holes, or worse. Hence it is vitally important to test that
such assertion statements work as expected.
392
393
394
395
396
397

Since these precondition checks cause the processes to die, we call such tests
_death tests_. More generally, any test that checks that a program terminates
(except by throwing an exception) in an expected fashion is also a death test.

Note that if a piece of code throws an exception, we don't consider it "death"
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
398
399
for the purpose of death tests, as the caller of the code could catch the
exception and avoid the crash. If you want to verify exceptions thrown by your
400
code, see [Exception Assertions](#ExceptionAssertions).
401

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
402
If you want to test `EXPECT_*()/ASSERT_*()` failures in your test code, see
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
403
["Catching" Failures](#catching-failures).
404

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
405
### How to Write a Death Test
406

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
407
408
409
GoogleTest provides assertion macros to support death tests. See
[Death Assertions](reference/assertions.md#death) in the Assertions Reference
for details.
410

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
411
412
To write a death test, simply use one of the macros inside your test function.
For example,
413

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
414
```c++
415
416
TEST(MyDeathTest, Foo) {
  // This death test uses a compound statement.
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
417
418
419
420
  ASSERT_DEATH({
    int n = 5;
    Foo(&n);
  }, "Error on line .* of Foo()");
421
}
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
422

423
TEST(MyDeathTest, NormalExit) {
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
424
  EXPECT_EXIT(NormalExit(), testing::ExitedWithCode(0), "Success");
425
}
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
426

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
427
428
TEST(MyDeathTest, KillProcess) {
  EXPECT_EXIT(KillProcess(), testing::KilledBySignal(SIGKILL),
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
429
              "Sending myself unblockable signal");
430
431
432
433
434
}
```

verifies that:

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
435
436
437
*   calling `Foo(5)` causes the process to die with the given error message,
*   calling `NormalExit()` causes the process to print `"Success"` to stderr and
    exit with exit code 0, and
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
438
*   calling `KillProcess()` kills the process with signal `SIGKILL`.
439
440
441
442

The test function body may contain other assertions and statements as well, if
necessary.

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
Note that a death test only cares about three things:

1.  does `statement` abort or exit the process?
2.  (in the case of `ASSERT_EXIT` and `EXPECT_EXIT`) does the exit status
    satisfy `predicate`? Or (in the case of `ASSERT_DEATH` and `EXPECT_DEATH`)
    is the exit status non-zero? And
3.  does the stderr output match `matcher`?

In particular, if `statement` generates an `ASSERT_*` or `EXPECT_*` failure, it
will **not** cause the death test to fail, as googletest assertions don't abort
the process.

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
455
### Death Test Naming
456

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
457
{: .callout .important}
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
458
IMPORTANT: We strongly recommend you to follow the convention of naming your
459
**test suite** (not test) `*DeathTest` when it contains a death test, as
460
461
demonstrated in the above example. The
[Death Tests And Threads](#death-tests-and-threads) section below explains why.
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
462
463
464

If a test fixture class is shared by normal tests and death tests, you can use
`using` or `typedef` to introduce an alias for the fixture class and avoid
465
duplicating its code:
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
466
467

```c++
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
468
class FooTest : public testing::Test { ... };
469

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
470
using FooDeathTest = FooTest;
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480

TEST_F(FooTest, DoesThis) {
  // normal test
}

TEST_F(FooDeathTest, DoesThat) {
  // death test
}
```

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
481
### Regular Expression Syntax
482

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
483
On POSIX systems (e.g. Linux, Cygwin, and Mac), googletest uses the
484
[POSIX extended regular expression](http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/basedefs/xbd_chap09.html#tag_09_04)
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
syntax. To learn about this syntax, you may want to read this
[Wikipedia entry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expression#POSIX_Extended_Regular_Expressions).

On Windows, googletest uses its own simple regular expression implementation. It
lacks many features. For example, we don't support union (`"x|y"`), grouping
(`"(xy)"`), brackets (`"[xy]"`), and repetition count (`"x{5,7}"`), among
others. Below is what we do support (`A` denotes a literal character, period
(`.`), or a single `\\ ` escape sequence; `x` and `y` denote regular
expressions.):

Expression | Meaning
---------- | --------------------------------------------------------------
`c`        | matches any literal character `c`
`\\d`      | matches any decimal digit
`\\D`      | matches any character that's not a decimal digit
`\\f`      | matches `\f`
`\\n`      | matches `\n`
`\\r`      | matches `\r`
`\\s`      | matches any ASCII whitespace, including `\n`
`\\S`      | matches any character that's not a whitespace
`\\t`      | matches `\t`
`\\v`      | matches `\v`
`\\w`      | matches any letter, `_`, or decimal digit
`\\W`      | matches any character that `\\w` doesn't match
`\\c`      | matches any literal character `c`, which must be a punctuation
`.`        | matches any single character except `\n`
`A?`       | matches 0 or 1 occurrences of `A`
`A*`       | matches 0 or many occurrences of `A`
`A+`       | matches 1 or many occurrences of `A`
`^`        | matches the beginning of a string (not that of each line)
`$`        | matches the end of a string (not that of each line)
`xy`       | matches `x` followed by `y`

To help you determine which capability is available on your system, googletest
defines macros to govern which regular expression it is using. The macros are:
520
521
522
`GTEST_USES_SIMPLE_RE=1` or `GTEST_USES_POSIX_RE=1`. If you want your death
tests to work in all cases, you can either `#if` on these macros or use the more
limited syntax only.
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
523
524
525

### How It Works

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
526
527
See [Death Assertions](reference/assertions.md#death) in the Assertions
Reference.
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
528
529

### Death Tests And Threads
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537

The reason for the two death test styles has to do with thread safety. Due to
well-known problems with forking in the presence of threads, death tests should
be run in a single-threaded context. Sometimes, however, it isn't feasible to
arrange that kind of environment. For example, statically-initialized modules
may start threads before main is ever reached. Once threads have been created,
it may be difficult or impossible to clean them up.

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
538
googletest has three features intended to raise awareness of threading issues.
539

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
540
541
1.  A warning is emitted if multiple threads are running when a death test is
    encountered.
542
543
2.  Test suites with a name ending in "DeathTest" are run before all other
    tests.
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
544
545
546
3.  It uses `clone()` instead of `fork()` to spawn the child process on Linux
    (`clone()` is not available on Cygwin and Mac), as `fork()` is more likely
    to cause the child to hang when the parent process has multiple threads.
547
548
549
550

It's perfectly fine to create threads inside a death test statement; they are
executed in a separate process and cannot affect the parent.

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
551
552
### Death Test Styles

553
554
555
556
The "threadsafe" death test style was introduced in order to help mitigate the
risks of testing in a possibly multithreaded environment. It trades increased
test execution time (potentially dramatically so) for improved thread safety.

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
557
558
The automated testing framework does not set the style flag. You can choose a
particular style of death tests by setting the flag programmatically:
559

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
560
561
```c++
testing::FLAGS_gtest_death_test_style="threadsafe"
562
563
```

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
564
565
566
567
568
569
You can do this in `main()` to set the style for all death tests in the binary,
or in individual tests. Recall that flags are saved before running each test and
restored afterwards, so you need not do that yourself. For example:

```c++
int main(int argc, char** argv) {
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
570
571
  testing::InitGoogleTest(&argc, argv);
  testing::FLAGS_gtest_death_test_style = "fast";
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
572
573
  return RUN_ALL_TESTS();
}
574
575

TEST(MyDeathTest, TestOne) {
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
576
  testing::FLAGS_gtest_death_test_style = "threadsafe";
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
  // This test is run in the "threadsafe" style:
  ASSERT_DEATH(ThisShouldDie(), "");
}

TEST(MyDeathTest, TestTwo) {
  // This test is run in the "fast" style:
  ASSERT_DEATH(ThisShouldDie(), "");
}
```

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
587
### Caveats
588

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
The `statement` argument of `ASSERT_EXIT()` can be any valid C++ statement. If
it leaves the current function via a `return` statement or by throwing an
exception, the death test is considered to have failed. Some googletest macros
may return from the current function (e.g. `ASSERT_TRUE()`), so be sure to avoid
them in `statement`.

Since `statement` runs in the child process, any in-memory side effect (e.g.
modifying a variable, releasing memory, etc) it causes will *not* be observable
597
598
599
600
in the parent process. In particular, if you release memory in a death test,
your program will fail the heap check as the parent process will never see the
memory reclaimed. To solve this problem, you can

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
601
602
603
1.  try not to free memory in a death test;
2.  free the memory again in the parent process; or
3.  do not use the heap checker in your program.
604

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
605
606
607
Due to an implementation detail, you cannot place multiple death test assertions
on the same line; otherwise, compilation will fail with an unobvious error
message.
608
609
610
611
612
613

Despite the improved thread safety afforded by the "threadsafe" style of death
test, thread problems such as deadlock are still possible in the presence of
handlers registered with `pthread_atfork(3)`.


Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
614
615
## Using Assertions in Sub-routines

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
616
{: .callout .note}
krzysio's avatar
krzysio committed
617
618
Note: If you want to put a series of test assertions in a subroutine to check
for a complex condition, consider using
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
619
[a custom GMock matcher](gmock_cook_book.md#NewMatchers)
krzysio's avatar
krzysio committed
620
621
622
instead. This lets you provide a more readable error message in case of failure
and avoid all of the issues described below.

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
623
### Adding Traces to Assertions
624

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
625
626
If a test sub-routine is called from several places, when an assertion inside it
fails, it can be hard to tell which invocation of the sub-routine the failure is
627
628
629
from. You can alleviate this problem using extra logging or custom failure
messages, but that usually clutters up your tests. A better solution is to use
the `SCOPED_TRACE` macro or the `ScopedTrace` utility:
630

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
631
632
```c++
SCOPED_TRACE(message);
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
633
634
```
```c++
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
635
636
ScopedTrace trace("file_path", line_number, message);
```
637

Fedor Trushkin's avatar
Fedor Trushkin committed
638
639
640
641
642
where `message` can be anything streamable to `std::ostream`. `SCOPED_TRACE`
macro will cause the current file name, line number, and the given message to be
added in every failure message. `ScopedTrace` accepts explicit file name and
line number in arguments, which is useful for writing test helpers. The effect
will be undone when the control leaves the current lexical scope.
643
644
645

For example,

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
646
```c++
647
10: void Sub1(int n) {
648
649
11:   EXPECT_EQ(Bar(n), 1);
12:   EXPECT_EQ(Bar(n + 1), 2);
650
13: }
Caleb Morse's avatar
Caleb Morse committed
651
14:
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
15: TEST(FooTest, Bar) {
16:   {
17:     SCOPED_TRACE("A");  // This trace point will be included in
18:                         // every failure in this scope.
19:     Sub1(1);
20:   }
21:   // Now it won't.
22:   Sub1(9);
23: }
```

could result in messages like these:

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
665
```none
666
667
668
669
path/to/foo_test.cc:11: Failure
Value of: Bar(n)
Expected: 1
  Actual: 2
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
670
Google Test trace:
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
path/to/foo_test.cc:17: A

path/to/foo_test.cc:12: Failure
Value of: Bar(n + 1)
Expected: 2
  Actual: 3
```

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
679
Without the trace, it would've been difficult to know which invocation of
680
681
682
`Sub1()` the two failures come from respectively. (You could add an extra
message to each assertion in `Sub1()` to indicate the value of `n`, but that's
tedious.)
683
684
685

Some tips on using `SCOPED_TRACE`:

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
1.  With a suitable message, it's often enough to use `SCOPED_TRACE` at the
    beginning of a sub-routine, instead of at each call site.
2.  When calling sub-routines inside a loop, make the loop iterator part of the
    message in `SCOPED_TRACE` such that you can know which iteration the failure
    is from.
3.  Sometimes the line number of the trace point is enough for identifying the
    particular invocation of a sub-routine. In this case, you don't have to
    choose a unique message for `SCOPED_TRACE`. You can simply use `""`.
4.  You can use `SCOPED_TRACE` in an inner scope when there is one in the outer
    scope. In this case, all active trace points will be included in the failure
    messages, in reverse order they are encountered.
5.  The trace dump is clickable in Emacs - hit `return` on a line number and
    you'll be taken to that line in the source file!
699

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
700
### Propagating Fatal Failures
701
702
703
704

A common pitfall when using `ASSERT_*` and `FAIL*` is not understanding that
when they fail they only abort the _current function_, not the entire test. For
example, the following test will segfault:
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
705
706

```c++
707
708
709
void Subroutine() {
  // Generates a fatal failure and aborts the current function.
  ASSERT_EQ(1, 2);
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
710

711
712
713
714
715
  // The following won't be executed.
  ...
}

TEST(FooTest, Bar) {
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
716
717
718
  Subroutine();  // The intended behavior is for the fatal failure
                 // in Subroutine() to abort the entire test.

719
  // The actual behavior: the function goes on after Subroutine() returns.
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
720
  int* p = nullptr;
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
721
  *p = 3;  // Segfault!
722
723
724
}
```

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
725
To alleviate this, googletest provides three different solutions. You could use
726
727
either exceptions, the `(ASSERT|EXPECT)_NO_FATAL_FAILURE` assertions or the
`HasFatalFailure()` function. They are described in the following two
728
729
subsections.

730
731
732
733
734
735
736
737
738
739
740
741
742
743
744
745
746
747
748
749
750
751
#### Asserting on Subroutines with an exception

The following code can turn ASSERT-failure into an exception:

```c++
class ThrowListener : public testing::EmptyTestEventListener {
  void OnTestPartResult(const testing::TestPartResult& result) override {
    if (result.type() == testing::TestPartResult::kFatalFailure) {
      throw testing::AssertionException(result);
    }
  }
};
int main(int argc, char** argv) {
  ...
  testing::UnitTest::GetInstance()->listeners().Append(new ThrowListener);
  return RUN_ALL_TESTS();
}
```

This listener should be added after other listeners if you have any, otherwise
they won't see failed `OnTestPartResult`.

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
752
#### Asserting on Subroutines
753

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
754
755
756
As shown above, if your test calls a subroutine that has an `ASSERT_*` failure
in it, the test will continue after the subroutine returns. This may not be what
you want.
757

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
758
759
Often people want fatal failures to propagate like exceptions. For that
googletest offers the following macros:
760

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
761
762
763
Fatal assertion                       | Nonfatal assertion                    | Verifies
------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------- | --------
`ASSERT_NO_FATAL_FAILURE(statement);` | `EXPECT_NO_FATAL_FAILURE(statement);` | `statement` doesn't generate any new fatal failures in the current thread.
764

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
765
766
767
Only failures in the thread that executes the assertion are checked to determine
the result of this type of assertions. If `statement` creates new threads,
failures in these threads are ignored.
768
769
770

Examples:

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
771
```c++
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
ASSERT_NO_FATAL_FAILURE(Foo());

int i;
EXPECT_NO_FATAL_FAILURE({
  i = Bar();
});
```

780
Assertions from multiple threads are currently not supported on Windows.
781

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
782
#### Checking for Failures in the Current Test
783
784

`HasFatalFailure()` in the `::testing::Test` class returns `true` if an
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
785
786
assertion in the current test has suffered a fatal failure. This allows
functions to catch fatal failures in a sub-routine and return early.
787

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
788
```c++
789
790
791
792
793
794
795
class Test {
 public:
  ...
  static bool HasFatalFailure();
};
```

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
796
797
The typical usage, which basically simulates the behavior of a thrown exception,
is:
798

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
799
```c++
800
801
802
TEST(FooTest, Bar) {
  Subroutine();
  // Aborts if Subroutine() had a fatal failure.
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
803
804
  if (HasFatalFailure()) return;

805
806
807
808
809
810
811
812
  // The following won't be executed.
  ...
}
```

If `HasFatalFailure()` is used outside of `TEST()` , `TEST_F()` , or a test
fixture, you must add the `::testing::Test::` prefix, as in:

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
813
```c++
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
814
if (testing::Test::HasFatalFailure()) return;
815
816
```

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
817
818
819
Similarly, `HasNonfatalFailure()` returns `true` if the current test has at
least one non-fatal failure, and `HasFailure()` returns `true` if the current
test has at least one failure of either kind.
820

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
821
## Logging Additional Information
822

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
823
824
In your test code, you can call `RecordProperty("key", value)` to log additional
information, where `value` can be either a string or an `int`. The *last* value
825
826
827
recorded for a key will be emitted to the
[XML output](#generating-an-xml-report) if you specify one. For example, the
test
828

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
829
```c++
830
831
832
833
834
835
836
837
TEST_F(WidgetUsageTest, MinAndMaxWidgets) {
  RecordProperty("MaximumWidgets", ComputeMaxUsage());
  RecordProperty("MinimumWidgets", ComputeMinUsage());
}
```

will output XML like this:

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
838
839
840
841
```xml
  ...
    <testcase name="MinAndMaxWidgets" status="run" time="0.006" classname="WidgetUsageTest" MaximumWidgets="12" MinimumWidgets="9" />
  ...
842
843
```

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
844
{: .callout .note}
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
845
846
847
848
849
> NOTE:
>
> *   `RecordProperty()` is a static member of the `Test` class. Therefore it
>     needs to be prefixed with `::testing::Test::` if used outside of the
>     `TEST` body and the test fixture class.
hyuk.myeong's avatar
hyuk.myeong committed
850
> *   *`key`* must be a valid XML attribute name, and cannot conflict with the
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
851
852
853
>     ones already used by googletest (`name`, `status`, `time`, `classname`,
>     `type_param`, and `value_param`).
> *   Calling `RecordProperty()` outside of the lifespan of a test is allowed.
854
>     If it's called outside of a test but between a test suite's
855
856
857
858
859
>     `SetUpTestSuite()` and `TearDownTestSuite()` methods, it will be
>     attributed to the XML element for the test suite. If it's called outside
>     of all test suites (e.g. in a test environment), it will be attributed to
>     the top-level XML element.

860
## Sharing Resources Between Tests in the Same Test Suite
861

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
862
googletest creates a new test fixture object for each test in order to make
863
864
865
866
tests independent and easier to debug. However, sometimes tests use resources
that are expensive to set up, making the one-copy-per-test model prohibitively
expensive.

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
867
868
If the tests don't change the resource, there's no harm in their sharing a
single resource copy. So, in addition to per-test set-up/tear-down, googletest
869
also supports per-test-suite set-up/tear-down. To use it:
870

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
871
872
1.  In your test fixture class (say `FooTest` ), declare as `static` some member
    variables to hold the shared resources.
873
2.  Outside your test fixture class (typically just below it), define those
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
874
    member variables, optionally giving them initial values.
875
3.  In the same test fixture class, define a `static void SetUpTestSuite()`
876
877
    function (remember not to spell it as **`SetupTestSuite`** with a small
    `u`!) to set up the shared resources and a `static void TearDownTestSuite()`
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
878
879
    function to tear them down.

880
881
882
That's it! googletest automatically calls `SetUpTestSuite()` before running the
*first test* in the `FooTest` test suite (i.e. before creating the first
`FooTest` object), and calls `TearDownTestSuite()` after running the *last test*
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
883
884
in it (i.e. after deleting the last `FooTest` object). In between, the tests can
use the shared resources.
885
886

Remember that the test order is undefined, so your code can't depend on a test
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
887
888
889
preceding or following another. Also, the tests must either not modify the state
of any shared resource, or, if they do modify the state, they must restore the
state to its original value before passing control to the next test.
890

891
Here's an example of per-test-suite set-up and tear-down:
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
892
893

```c++
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
894
class FooTest : public testing::Test {
895
 protected:
896
897
  // Per-test-suite set-up.
  // Called before the first test in this test suite.
898
  // Can be omitted if not needed.
899
  static void SetUpTestSuite() {
900
901
902
    shared_resource_ = new ...;
  }

903
904
  // Per-test-suite tear-down.
  // Called after the last test in this test suite.
905
  // Can be omitted if not needed.
906
  static void TearDownTestSuite() {
907
    delete shared_resource_;
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
908
    shared_resource_ = nullptr;
909
910
  }

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
911
  // You can define per-test set-up logic as usual.
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
912
  void SetUp() override { ... }
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
913
914

  // You can define per-test tear-down logic as usual.
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
915
  void TearDown() override { ... }
916
917
918
919
920

  // Some expensive resource shared by all tests.
  static T* shared_resource_;
};

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
921
T* FooTest::shared_resource_ = nullptr;
922
923

TEST_F(FooTest, Test1) {
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
924
  ... you can refer to shared_resource_ here ...
925
}
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
926

927
TEST_F(FooTest, Test2) {
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
928
  ... you can refer to shared_resource_ here ...
929
930
931
}
```

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
932
{: .callout .note}
933
NOTE: Though the above code declares `SetUpTestSuite()` protected, it may
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
934
935
936
937
sometimes be necessary to declare it public, such as when using it with
`TEST_P`.

## Global Set-Up and Tear-Down
938

939
Just as you can do set-up and tear-down at the test level and the test suite
940
941
942
943
944
level, you can also do it at the test program level. Here's how.

First, you subclass the `::testing::Environment` class to define a test
environment, which knows how to set-up and tear-down:

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
945
```c++
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
946
class Environment : public ::testing::Environment {
947
 public:
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
948
  ~Environment() override {}
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
949

950
  // Override this to define how to set up the environment.
951
  void SetUp() override {}
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
952

953
  // Override this to define how to tear down the environment.
954
  void TearDown() override {}
955
956
957
};
```

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
958
Then, you register an instance of your environment class with googletest by
959
960
calling the `::testing::AddGlobalTestEnvironment()` function:

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
961
```c++
962
963
964
965
Environment* AddGlobalTestEnvironment(Environment* env);
```

Now, when `RUN_ALL_TESTS()` is called, it first calls the `SetUp()` method of
966
967
each environment object, then runs the tests if none of the environments
reported fatal failures and `GTEST_SKIP()` was not called. `RUN_ALL_TESTS()`
968
969
always calls `TearDown()` with each environment object, regardless of whether or
not the tests were run.
970

971
It's OK to register multiple environment objects. In this suite, their `SetUp()`
972
973
974
will be called in the order they are registered, and their `TearDown()` will be
called in the reverse order.

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
975
Note that googletest takes ownership of the registered environment objects.
976
977
Therefore **do not delete them** by yourself.

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
978
979
980
981
You should call `AddGlobalTestEnvironment()` before `RUN_ALL_TESTS()` is called,
probably in `main()`. If you use `gtest_main`, you need to call this before
`main()` starts for it to take effect. One way to do this is to define a global
variable like this:
982

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
983
```c++
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
984
985
testing::Environment* const foo_env =
    testing::AddGlobalTestEnvironment(new FooEnvironment);
986
987
988
989
```

However, we strongly recommend you to write your own `main()` and call
`AddGlobalTestEnvironment()` there, as relying on initialization of global
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
990
991
992
993
994
995
996
997
998
999
1000
1001
1002
1003
1004
1005
1006
1007
1008
1009
1010
1011
variables makes the code harder to read and may cause problems when you register
multiple environments from different translation units and the environments have
dependencies among them (remember that the compiler doesn't guarantee the order
in which global variables from different translation units are initialized).

## Value-Parameterized Tests

*Value-parameterized tests* allow you to test your code with different
parameters without writing multiple copies of the same test. This is useful in a
number of situations, for example:

*   You have a piece of code whose behavior is affected by one or more
    command-line flags. You want to make sure your code performs correctly for
    various values of those flags.
*   You want to test different implementations of an OO interface.
*   You want to test your code over various inputs (a.k.a. data-driven testing).
    This feature is easy to abuse, so please exercise your good sense when doing
    it!

### How to Write Value-Parameterized Tests

To write value-parameterized tests, first you should define a fixture class. It
1012
1013
1014
1015
1016
1017
1018
must be derived from both `testing::Test` and `testing::WithParamInterface<T>`
(the latter is a pure interface), where `T` is the type of your parameter
values. For convenience, you can just derive the fixture class from
`testing::TestWithParam<T>`, which itself is derived from both `testing::Test`
and `testing::WithParamInterface<T>`. `T` can be any copyable type. If it's a
raw pointer, you are responsible for managing the lifespan of the pointed
values.
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1019

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1020
{: .callout .note}
1021
NOTE: If your test fixture defines `SetUpTestSuite()` or `TearDownTestSuite()`
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1022
1023
they must be declared **public** rather than **protected** in order to use
`TEST_P`.
1024

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1025
1026
```c++
class FooTest :
1027
    public testing::TestWithParam<const char*> {
1028
1029
1030
1031
1032
1033
  // You can implement all the usual fixture class members here.
  // To access the test parameter, call GetParam() from class
  // TestWithParam<T>.
};

// Or, when you want to add parameters to a pre-existing fixture class:
1034
class BaseTest : public testing::Test {
1035
1036
1037
  ...
};
class BarTest : public BaseTest,
1038
                public testing::WithParamInterface<const char*> {
1039
1040
1041
1042
  ...
};
```

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1043
1044
1045
Then, use the `TEST_P` macro to define as many test patterns using this fixture
as you want. The `_P` suffix is for "parameterized" or "pattern", whichever you
prefer to think.
1046

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1047
```c++
1048
1049
1050
1051
1052
1053
1054
1055
1056
1057
1058
1059
TEST_P(FooTest, DoesBlah) {
  // Inside a test, access the test parameter with the GetParam() method
  // of the TestWithParam<T> class:
  EXPECT_TRUE(foo.Blah(GetParam()));
  ...
}

TEST_P(FooTest, HasBlahBlah) {
  ...
}
```

1060
1061
1062
Finally, you can use `INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P` to instantiate the test suite
with any set of parameters you want. googletest defines a number of functions
for generating test parameters. They return what we call (surprise!) *parameter
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1063
1064
generators*. Here is a summary of them, which are all in the `testing`
namespace:
1065

1066

1067
1068
1069
1070
| Parameter Generator                                                                       | Behavior                                                                                                          |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `Range(begin, end [, step])`                                                              | Yields values `{begin, begin+step, begin+step+step, ...}`. The values do not include `end`. `step` defaults to 1. |
| `Values(v1, v2, ..., vN)`                                                                 | Yields values `{v1, v2, ..., vN}`.                                                                                |
1071
| `ValuesIn(container)` and  `ValuesIn(begin,end)`                                          | Yields values from a C-style array, an  STL-style container, or an iterator range `[begin, end)`                  |
1072
1073
| `Bool()`                                                                                  | Yields sequence `{false, true}`.                                                                                  |
| `Combine(g1, g2, ..., gN)`                                                                | Yields all combinations (Cartesian product) as std\:\:tuples of the values generated by the `N` generators.       |
1074
1075


Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1076
For more details, see the comments at the definitions of these functions.
1077

1078
1079
The following statement will instantiate tests from the `FooTest` test suite
each with parameter values `"meeny"`, `"miny"`, and `"moe"`.
1080

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1081
```c++
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1082
INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P(MeenyMinyMoe,
1083
1084
                         FooTest,
                         testing::Values("meeny", "miny", "moe"));
1085
1086
```

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1087
{: .callout .note}
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1088
1089
NOTE: The code above must be placed at global or namespace scope, not at
function scope.
1090

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1091
1092
1093
The first argument to `INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P` is a unique name for the
instantiation of the test suite. The next argument is the name of the test
pattern, and the last is the parameter generator.
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1094

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1095
1096
1097
1098
You can instantiate a test pattern more than once, so to distinguish different
instances of the pattern, the instantiation name is added as a prefix to the
actual test suite name. Remember to pick unique prefixes for different
instantiations. The tests from the instantiation above will have these names:
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1099

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1100
1101
1102
1103
1104
1105
*   `MeenyMinyMoe/FooTest.DoesBlah/0` for `"meeny"`
*   `MeenyMinyMoe/FooTest.DoesBlah/1` for `"miny"`
*   `MeenyMinyMoe/FooTest.DoesBlah/2` for `"moe"`
*   `MeenyMinyMoe/FooTest.HasBlahBlah/0` for `"meeny"`
*   `MeenyMinyMoe/FooTest.HasBlahBlah/1` for `"miny"`
*   `MeenyMinyMoe/FooTest.HasBlahBlah/2` for `"moe"`
1106

1107
You can use these names in [`--gtest_filter`](#running-a-subset-of-the-tests).
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1108

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1109
1110
The following statement will instantiate all tests from `FooTest` again, each
with parameter values `"cat"` and `"dog"`:
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1111
1112

```c++
1113
const char* pets[] = {"cat", "dog"};
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1114
INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P(Pets, FooTest, testing::ValuesIn(pets));
1115
1116
1117
1118
```

The tests from the instantiation above will have these names:

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1119
1120
1121
1122
*   `Pets/FooTest.DoesBlah/0` for `"cat"`
*   `Pets/FooTest.DoesBlah/1` for `"dog"`
*   `Pets/FooTest.HasBlahBlah/0` for `"cat"`
*   `Pets/FooTest.HasBlahBlah/1` for `"dog"`
1123

1124
1125
1126
Please note that `INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P` will instantiate *all* tests in the
given test suite, whether their definitions come before or *after* the
`INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P` statement.
1127

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1128
1129
1130
1131
1132
1133
1134
1135
1136
1137
1138
Additionally, by default, every `TEST_P` without a corresponding
`INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P` causes a failing test in test suite
`GoogleTestVerification`. If you have a test suite where that omission is not an
error, for example it is in a library that may be linked in for other reasons or
where the list of test cases is dynamic and may be empty, then this check can be
suppressed by tagging the test suite:

```c++
GTEST_ALLOW_UNINSTANTIATED_PARAMETERIZED_TEST(FooTest);
```

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1139
1140
You can see [sample7_unittest.cc] and [sample8_unittest.cc] for more examples.

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1141
1142
[sample7_unittest.cc]: https://github.com/google/googletest/blob/master/googletest/samples/sample7_unittest.cc "Parameterized Test example"
[sample8_unittest.cc]: https://github.com/google/googletest/blob/master/googletest/samples/sample8_unittest.cc "Parameterized Test example with multiple parameters"
1143

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1144
### Creating Value-Parameterized Abstract Tests
1145

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1146
1147
1148
1149
1150
1151
1152
1153
In the above, we define and instantiate `FooTest` in the *same* source file.
Sometimes you may want to define value-parameterized tests in a library and let
other people instantiate them later. This pattern is known as *abstract tests*.
As an example of its application, when you are designing an interface you can
write a standard suite of abstract tests (perhaps using a factory function as
the test parameter) that all implementations of the interface are expected to
pass. When someone implements the interface, they can instantiate your suite to
get all the interface-conformance tests for free.
1154
1155
1156

To define abstract tests, you should organize your code like this:

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1157
1158
1159
1.  Put the definition of the parameterized test fixture class (e.g. `FooTest`)
    in a header file, say `foo_param_test.h`. Think of this as *declaring* your
    abstract tests.
1160
2.  Put the `TEST_P` definitions in `foo_param_test.cc`, which includes
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1161
1162
1163
    `foo_param_test.h`. Think of this as *implementing* your abstract tests.

Once they are defined, you can instantiate them by including `foo_param_test.h`,
1164
1165
invoking `INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P()`, and depending on the library target that
contains `foo_param_test.cc`. You can instantiate the same abstract test suite
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1166
multiple times, possibly in different source files.
1167

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1168
### Specifying Names for Value-Parameterized Test Parameters
1169

1170
The optional last argument to `INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P()` allows the user to
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1171
1172
1173
specify a function or functor that generates custom test name suffixes based on
the test parameters. The function should accept one argument of type
`testing::TestParamInfo<class ParamType>`, and return `std::string`.
1174

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1175
1176
1177
`testing::PrintToStringParamName` is a builtin test suffix generator that
returns the value of `testing::PrintToString(GetParam())`. It does not work for
`std::string` or C strings.
1178

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1179
{: .callout .note}
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1180
NOTE: test names must be non-empty, unique, and may only contain ASCII
1181
alphanumeric characters. In particular, they
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1182
[should not contain underscores](faq.md#why-should-test-suite-names-and-test-names-not-contain-underscore)
1183

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1184
```c++
1185
class MyTestSuite : public testing::TestWithParam<int> {};
1186

1187
TEST_P(MyTestSuite, MyTest)
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1188
1189
1190
{
  std::cout << "Example Test Param: " << GetParam() << std::endl;
}
1191

1192
1193
INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P(MyGroup, MyTestSuite, testing::Range(0, 10),
                         testing::PrintToStringParamName());
1194
```
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1195

1196
1197
1198
1199
1200
1201
1202
1203
1204
1205
Providing a custom functor allows for more control over test parameter name
generation, especially for types where the automatic conversion does not
generate helpful parameter names (e.g. strings as demonstrated above). The
following example illustrates this for multiple parameters, an enumeration type
and a string, and also demonstrates how to combine generators. It uses a lambda
for conciseness:

```c++
enum class MyType { MY_FOO = 0, MY_BAR = 1 };

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1206
class MyTestSuite : public testing::TestWithParam<std::tuple<MyType, std::string>> {
1207
1208
1209
1210
1211
};

INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P(
    MyGroup, MyTestSuite,
    testing::Combine(
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1212
        testing::Values(MyType::MY_FOO, MyType::MY_BAR),
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1213
        testing::Values("A", "B")),
1214
    [](const testing::TestParamInfo<MyTestSuite::ParamType>& info) {
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1215
      std::string name = absl::StrCat(
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1216
          std::get<0>(info.param) == MyType::MY_FOO ? "Foo" : "Bar",
1217
          std::get<1>(info.param));
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1218
      absl::c_replace_if(name, [](char c) { return !std::isalnum(c); }, '_');
1219
1220
1221
1222
1223
      return name;
    });
```

## Typed Tests
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1224
1225
1226
1227
1228
1229
1230
1231
1232
1233
1234
1235
1236
1237
1238
1239
1240
1241
1242
1243

Suppose you have multiple implementations of the same interface and want to make
sure that all of them satisfy some common requirements. Or, you may have defined
several types that are supposed to conform to the same "concept" and you want to
verify it. In both cases, you want the same test logic repeated for different
types.

While you can write one `TEST` or `TEST_F` for each type you want to test (and
you may even factor the test logic into a function template that you invoke from
the `TEST`), it's tedious and doesn't scale: if you want `m` tests over `n`
types, you'll end up writing `m*n` `TEST`s.

*Typed tests* allow you to repeat the same test logic over a list of types. You
only need to write the test logic once, although you must know the type list
when writing typed tests. Here's how you do it:

First, define a fixture class template. It should be parameterized by a type.
Remember to derive it from `::testing::Test`:

```c++
1244
template <typename T>
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1245
class FooTest : public testing::Test {
1246
1247
 public:
  ...
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1248
  using List = std::list<T>;
1249
1250
1251
1252
1253
  static T shared_;
  T value_;
};
```

1254
Next, associate a list of types with the test suite, which will be repeated for
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1255
each type in the list:
1256

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1257
1258
```c++
using MyTypes = ::testing::Types<char, int, unsigned int>;
1259
TYPED_TEST_SUITE(FooTest, MyTypes);
1260
1261
```

1262
The type alias (`using` or `typedef`) is necessary for the `TYPED_TEST_SUITE`
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1263
1264
macro to parse correctly. Otherwise the compiler will think that each comma in
the type list introduces a new macro argument.
1265

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1266
Then, use `TYPED_TEST()` instead of `TEST_F()` to define a typed test for this
1267
test suite. You can repeat this as many times as you want:
1268

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1269
```c++
1270
1271
1272
1273
1274
1275
1276
1277
1278
1279
1280
1281
1282
TYPED_TEST(FooTest, DoesBlah) {
  // Inside a test, refer to the special name TypeParam to get the type
  // parameter.  Since we are inside a derived class template, C++ requires
  // us to visit the members of FooTest via 'this'.
  TypeParam n = this->value_;

  // To visit static members of the fixture, add the 'TestFixture::'
  // prefix.
  n += TestFixture::shared_;

  // To refer to typedefs in the fixture, add the 'typename TestFixture::'
  // prefix.  The 'typename' is required to satisfy the compiler.
  typename TestFixture::List values;
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1283

1284
1285
1286
1287
1288
1289
1290
  values.push_back(n);
  ...
}

TYPED_TEST(FooTest, HasPropertyA) { ... }
```

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1291
1292
You can see [sample6_unittest.cc] for a complete example.

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1293
[sample6_unittest.cc]: https://github.com/google/googletest/blob/master/googletest/samples/sample6_unittest.cc "Typed Test example"
1294

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1295
## Type-Parameterized Tests
1296

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1297
1298
1299
1300
*Type-parameterized tests* are like typed tests, except that they don't require
you to know the list of types ahead of time. Instead, you can define the test
logic first and instantiate it with different type lists later. You can even
instantiate it more than once in the same program.
1301

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1302
1303
1304
1305
1306
1307
If you are designing an interface or concept, you can define a suite of
type-parameterized tests to verify properties that any valid implementation of
the interface/concept should have. Then, the author of each implementation can
just instantiate the test suite with their type to verify that it conforms to
the requirements, without having to write similar tests repeatedly. Here's an
example:
1308
1309
1310

First, define a fixture class template, as we did with typed tests:

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1311
```c++
1312
template <typename T>
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1313
class FooTest : public testing::Test {
1314
1315
1316
1317
  ...
};
```

1318
Next, declare that you will define a type-parameterized test suite:
1319

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1320
```c++
1321
TYPED_TEST_SUITE_P(FooTest);
1322
1323
```

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1324
1325
Then, use `TYPED_TEST_P()` to define a type-parameterized test. You can repeat
this as many times as you want:
1326

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1327
```c++
1328
1329
1330
1331
1332
1333
1334
1335
1336
1337
TYPED_TEST_P(FooTest, DoesBlah) {
  // Inside a test, refer to TypeParam to get the type parameter.
  TypeParam n = 0;
  ...
}

TYPED_TEST_P(FooTest, HasPropertyA) { ... }
```

Now the tricky part: you need to register all test patterns using the
1338
`REGISTER_TYPED_TEST_SUITE_P` macro before you can instantiate them. The first
1339
1340
argument of the macro is the test suite name; the rest are the names of the
tests in this test suite:
1341

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1342
```c++
1343
REGISTER_TYPED_TEST_SUITE_P(FooTest,
1344
                            DoesBlah, HasPropertyA);
1345
1346
```

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1347
1348
1349
Finally, you are free to instantiate the pattern with the types you want. If you
put the above code in a header file, you can `#include` it in multiple C++
source files and instantiate it multiple times.
1350

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1351
```c++
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1352
using MyTypes = ::testing::Types<char, int, unsigned int>;
1353
INSTANTIATE_TYPED_TEST_SUITE_P(My, FooTest, MyTypes);
1354
1355
```

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1356
To distinguish different instances of the pattern, the first argument to the
1357
`INSTANTIATE_TYPED_TEST_SUITE_P` macro is a prefix that will be added to the
1358
1359
actual test suite name. Remember to pick unique prefixes for different
instances.
1360

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1361
1362
In the special case where the type list contains only one type, you can write
that type directly without `::testing::Types<...>`, like this:
1363

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1364
```c++
1365
INSTANTIATE_TYPED_TEST_SUITE_P(My, FooTest, int);
1366
1367
```

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1368
You can see [sample6_unittest.cc] for a complete example.
1369

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1370
## Testing Private Code
1371
1372

If you change your software's internal implementation, your tests should not
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1373
1374
1375
1376
1377
1378
1379
1380
1381
1382
1383
1384
1385
1386
1387
1388
1389
1390
1391
1392
1393
1394
break as long as the change is not observable by users. Therefore, **per the
black-box testing principle, most of the time you should test your code through
its public interfaces.**

**If you still find yourself needing to test internal implementation code,
consider if there's a better design.** The desire to test internal
implementation is often a sign that the class is doing too much. Consider
extracting an implementation class, and testing it. Then use that implementation
class in the original class.

If you absolutely have to test non-public interface code though, you can. There
are two cases to consider:

*   Static functions ( *not* the same as static member functions!) or unnamed
    namespaces, and
*   Private or protected class members

To test them, we use the following special techniques:

*   Both static functions and definitions/declarations in an unnamed namespace
    are only visible within the same translation unit. To test them, you can
    `#include` the entire `.cc` file being tested in your `*_test.cc` file.
1395
    (#including `.cc` files is not a good way to reuse code - you should not do
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1396
1397
1398
1399
1400
1401
1402
1403
1404
1405
1406
1407
1408
1409
1410
1411
1412
1413
1414
1415
1416
1417
1418
1419
1420
1421
1422
1423
1424
    this in production code!)

    However, a better approach is to move the private code into the
    `foo::internal` namespace, where `foo` is the namespace your project
    normally uses, and put the private declarations in a `*-internal.h` file.
    Your production `.cc` files and your tests are allowed to include this
    internal header, but your clients are not. This way, you can fully test your
    internal implementation without leaking it to your clients.

*   Private class members are only accessible from within the class or by
    friends. To access a class' private members, you can declare your test
    fixture as a friend to the class and define accessors in your fixture. Tests
    using the fixture can then access the private members of your production
    class via the accessors in the fixture. Note that even though your fixture
    is a friend to your production class, your tests are not automatically
    friends to it, as they are technically defined in sub-classes of the
    fixture.

    Another way to test private members is to refactor them into an
    implementation class, which is then declared in a `*-internal.h` file. Your
    clients aren't allowed to include this header but your tests can. Such is
    called the
    [Pimpl](https://www.gamedev.net/articles/programming/general-and-gameplay-programming/the-c-pimpl-r1794/)
    (Private Implementation) idiom.

    Or, you can declare an individual test as a friend of your class by adding
    this line in the class body:

    ```c++
1425
        FRIEND_TEST(TestSuiteName, TestName);
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1426
1427
1428
1429
1430
1431
1432
1433
    ```

    For example,

    ```c++
    // foo.h
    class Foo {
      ...
1434
     private:
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1435
      FRIEND_TEST(FooTest, BarReturnsZeroOnNull);
1436

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1437
1438
      int Bar(void* x);
    };
1439

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1440
1441
1442
1443
    // foo_test.cc
    ...
    TEST(FooTest, BarReturnsZeroOnNull) {
      Foo foo;
1444
      EXPECT_EQ(foo.Bar(NULL), 0);  // Uses Foo's private member Bar().
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1445
1446
    }
    ```
1447

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1448
1449
1450
1451
1452
    Pay special attention when your class is defined in a namespace. If you want
    your test fixtures and tests to be friends of your class, then they must be
    defined in the exact same namespace (no anonymous or inline namespaces).

    For example, if the code to be tested looks like:
1453

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1454
1455
    ```c++
    namespace my_namespace {
1456

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1457
1458
1459
1460
1461
1462
    class Foo {
      friend class FooTest;
      FRIEND_TEST(FooTest, Bar);
      FRIEND_TEST(FooTest, Baz);
      ... definition of the class Foo ...
    };
1463

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1464
1465
    }  // namespace my_namespace
    ```
1466

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1467
    Your test code should be something like:
1468

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1469
1470
    ```c++
    namespace my_namespace {
1471

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1472
    class FooTest : public testing::Test {
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1473
1474
1475
     protected:
      ...
    };
1476

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1477
1478
    TEST_F(FooTest, Bar) { ... }
    TEST_F(FooTest, Baz) { ... }
1479

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1480
1481
    }  // namespace my_namespace
    ```
1482

Yi Zheng's avatar
Yi Zheng committed
1483
## "Catching" Failures
1484

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1485
1486
If you are building a testing utility on top of googletest, you'll want to test
your utility. What framework would you use to test it? googletest, of course.
1487

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1488
1489
1490
1491
The challenge is to verify that your testing utility reports failures correctly.
In frameworks that report a failure by throwing an exception, you could catch
the exception and assert on it. But googletest doesn't use exceptions, so how do
we test that a piece of code generates an expected failure?
1492

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1493
`"gtest/gtest-spi.h"` contains some constructs to do this. After #including this header,
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1494
you can use
1495

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1496
1497
```c++
  EXPECT_FATAL_FAILURE(statement, substring);
1498
1499
```

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1500
1501
to assert that `statement` generates a fatal (e.g. `ASSERT_*`) failure in the
current thread whose message contains the given `substring`, or use
1502

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1503
1504
```c++
  EXPECT_NONFATAL_FAILURE(statement, substring);
1505
1506
```

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1507
if you are expecting a non-fatal (e.g. `EXPECT_*`) failure.
1508

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1509
1510
1511
1512
Only failures in the current thread are checked to determine the result of this
type of expectations. If `statement` creates new threads, failures in these
threads are also ignored. If you want to catch failures in other threads as
well, use one of the following macros instead:
1513

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1514
1515
1516
1517
```c++
  EXPECT_FATAL_FAILURE_ON_ALL_THREADS(statement, substring);
  EXPECT_NONFATAL_FAILURE_ON_ALL_THREADS(statement, substring);
```
1518

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1519
{: .callout .note}
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1520
NOTE: Assertions from multiple threads are currently not supported on Windows.
1521
1522
1523

For technical reasons, there are some caveats:

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1524
1525
1.  You cannot stream a failure message to either macro.

1526
2.  `statement` in `EXPECT_FATAL_FAILURE{_ON_ALL_THREADS}()` cannot reference
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1527
    local non-static variables or non-static members of `this` object.
1528

1529
3.  `statement` in `EXPECT_FATAL_FAILURE{_ON_ALL_THREADS}()` cannot return a
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1530
    value.
1531

1532
1533
## Registering tests programmatically

1534
The `TEST` macros handle the vast majority of all use cases, but there are few
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1535
where runtime registration logic is required. For those cases, the framework
1536
1537
provides the `::testing::RegisterTest` that allows callers to register arbitrary
tests dynamically.
1538
1539

This is an advanced API only to be used when the `TEST` macros are insufficient.
1540
1541
The macros should be preferred when possible, as they avoid most of the
complexity of calling this function.
1542
1543
1544
1545

It provides the following signature:

```c++
1546
template <typename Factory>
1547
TestInfo* RegisterTest(const char* test_suite_name, const char* test_name,
1548
1549
1550
                       const char* type_param, const char* value_param,
                       const char* file, int line, Factory factory);
```
1551
1552

The `factory` argument is a factory callable (move-constructible) object or
1553
1554
1555
function pointer that creates a new instance of the Test object. It handles
ownership to the caller. The signature of the callable is `Fixture*()`, where
`Fixture` is the test fixture class for the test. All tests registered with the
1556
same `test_suite_name` must return the same fixture type. This is checked at
1557
runtime.
1558
1559
1560
1561
1562

The framework will infer the fixture class from the factory and will call the
`SetUpTestSuite` and `TearDownTestSuite` for it.

Must be called before `RUN_ALL_TESTS()` is invoked, otherwise behavior is
1563
undefined.
1564
1565
1566
1567

Use case example:

```c++
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1568
class MyFixture : public testing::Test {
1569
1570
 public:
  // All of these optional, just like in regular macro usage.
1571
1572
  static void SetUpTestSuite() { ... }
  static void TearDownTestSuite() { ... }
1573
1574
1575
  void SetUp() override { ... }
  void TearDown() override { ... }
};
1576
1577

class MyTest : public MyFixture {
1578
1579
1580
 public:
  explicit MyTest(int data) : data_(data) {}
  void TestBody() override { ... }
1581
1582

 private:
1583
1584
  int data_;
};
1585
1586

void RegisterMyTests(const std::vector<int>& values) {
1587
  for (int v : values) {
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1588
    testing::RegisterTest(
1589
1590
1591
1592
1593
1594
1595
1596
1597
1598
1599
1600
1601
1602
        "MyFixture", ("Test" + std::to_string(v)).c_str(), nullptr,
        std::to_string(v).c_str(),
        __FILE__, __LINE__,
        // Important to use the fixture type as the return type here.
        [=]() -> MyFixture* { return new MyTest(v); });
  }
}
...
int main(int argc, char** argv) {
  std::vector<int> values_to_test = LoadValuesFromConfig();
  RegisterMyTests(values_to_test);
  ...
  return RUN_ALL_TESTS();
}
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1603
```
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1604
## Getting the Current Test's Name
1605
1606
1607
1608
1609
1610

Sometimes a function may need to know the name of the currently running test.
For example, you may be using the `SetUp()` method of your test fixture to set
the golden file name based on which test is running. The `::testing::TestInfo`
class has this information:

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1611
```c++
1612
1613
1614
1615
namespace testing {

class TestInfo {
 public:
1616
  // Returns the test suite name and the test name, respectively.
1617
1618
1619
  //
  // Do NOT delete or free the return value - it's managed by the
  // TestInfo class.
1620
  const char* test_suite_name() const;
1621
1622
1623
  const char* name() const;
};

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1624
}
1625
1626
```

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1627
To obtain a `TestInfo` object for the currently running test, call
1628
1629
`current_test_info()` on the `UnitTest` singleton object:

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1630
1631
1632
```c++
  // Gets information about the currently running test.
  // Do NOT delete the returned object - it's managed by the UnitTest class.
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1633
1634
  const testing::TestInfo* const test_info =
      testing::UnitTest::GetInstance()->current_test_info();
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1635

1636
  printf("We are in test %s of test suite %s.\n",
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1637
         test_info->name(),
1638
         test_info->test_suite_name());
1639
1640
1641
```

`current_test_info()` returns a null pointer if no test is running. In
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1642
1643
particular, you cannot find the test suite name in `SetUpTestSuite()`,
`TearDownTestSuite()` (where you know the test suite name implicitly), or
1644
1645
functions called from them.

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1646
## Extending googletest by Handling Test Events
1647

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1648
1649
googletest provides an **event listener API** to let you receive notifications
about the progress of a test program and test failures. The events you can
1650
listen to include the start and end of the test program, a test suite, or a test
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1651
1652
1653
method, among others. You may use this API to augment or replace the standard
console output, replace the XML output, or provide a completely different form
of output, such as a GUI or a database. You can also use test events as
1654
1655
checkpoints to implement a resource leak checker, for example.

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1656
### Defining Event Listeners
1657

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1658
1659
1660
1661
1662
1663
To define a event listener, you subclass either testing::TestEventListener or
testing::EmptyTestEventListener The former is an (abstract) interface, where
*each pure virtual method can be overridden to handle a test event* (For
example, when a test starts, the `OnTestStart()` method will be called.). The
latter provides an empty implementation of all methods in the interface, such
that a subclass only needs to override the methods it cares about.
1664

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1665
1666
When an event is fired, its context is passed to the handler function as an
argument. The following argument types are used:
1667

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1668
*   UnitTest reflects the state of the entire test program,
1669
*   TestSuite has information about a test suite, which can contain one or more
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1670
1671
1672
    tests,
*   TestInfo contains the state of a test, and
*   TestPartResult represents the result of a test assertion.
1673

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1674
1675
1676
1677
1678
1679
An event handler function can examine the argument it receives to find out
interesting information about the event and the test program's state.

Here's an example:

```c++
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1680
  class MinimalistPrinter : public testing::EmptyTestEventListener {
1681
    // Called before a test starts.
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1682
    void OnTestStart(const testing::TestInfo& test_info) override {
1683
      printf("*** Test %s.%s starting.\n",
1684
             test_info.test_suite_name(), test_info.name());
1685
1686
    }

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1687
    // Called after a failed assertion or a SUCCESS().
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1688
    void OnTestPartResult(const testing::TestPartResult& test_part_result) override {
1689
1690
1691
1692
1693
1694
1695
1696
      printf("%s in %s:%d\n%s\n",
             test_part_result.failed() ? "*** Failure" : "Success",
             test_part_result.file_name(),
             test_part_result.line_number(),
             test_part_result.summary());
    }

    // Called after a test ends.
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1697
    void OnTestEnd(const testing::TestInfo& test_info) override {
1698
      printf("*** Test %s.%s ending.\n",
1699
             test_info.test_suite_name(), test_info.name());
1700
1701
1702
1703
    }
  };
```

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1704
### Using Event Listeners
1705

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1706
1707
1708
1709
1710
1711
To use the event listener you have defined, add an instance of it to the
googletest event listener list (represented by class TestEventListeners - note
the "s" at the end of the name) in your `main()` function, before calling
`RUN_ALL_TESTS()`:

```c++
1712
int main(int argc, char** argv) {
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1713
  testing::InitGoogleTest(&argc, argv);
1714
  // Gets hold of the event listener list.
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1715
1716
  testing::TestEventListeners& listeners =
      testing::UnitTest::GetInstance()->listeners();
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1717
  // Adds a listener to the end.  googletest takes the ownership.
1718
1719
1720
1721
1722
  listeners.Append(new MinimalistPrinter);
  return RUN_ALL_TESTS();
}
```

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1723
1724
1725
1726
1727
1728
There's only one problem: the default test result printer is still in effect, so
its output will mingle with the output from your minimalist printer. To suppress
the default printer, just release it from the event listener list and delete it.
You can do so by adding one line:

```c++
1729
1730
1731
1732
1733
1734
  ...
  delete listeners.Release(listeners.default_result_printer());
  listeners.Append(new MinimalistPrinter);
  return RUN_ALL_TESTS();
```

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1735
Now, sit back and enjoy a completely different output from your tests. For more
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1736
1737
details, see [sample9_unittest.cc].

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1738
[sample9_unittest.cc]: https://github.com/google/googletest/blob/master/googletest/samples/sample9_unittest.cc "Event listener example"
1739

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1740
1741
1742
1743
1744
1745
1746
You may append more than one listener to the list. When an `On*Start()` or
`OnTestPartResult()` event is fired, the listeners will receive it in the order
they appear in the list (since new listeners are added to the end of the list,
the default text printer and the default XML generator will receive the event
first). An `On*End()` event will be received by the listeners in the *reverse*
order. This allows output by listeners added later to be framed by output from
listeners added earlier.
1747

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1748
### Generating Failures in Listeners
1749

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1750
1751
You may use failure-raising macros (`EXPECT_*()`, `ASSERT_*()`, `FAIL()`, etc)
when processing an event. There are some restrictions:
1752

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1753
1754
1.  You cannot generate any failure in `OnTestPartResult()` (otherwise it will
    cause `OnTestPartResult()` to be called recursively).
1755
2.  A listener that handles `OnTestPartResult()` is not allowed to generate any
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1756
    failure.
1757

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1758
1759
1760
1761
When you add listeners to the listener list, you should put listeners that
handle `OnTestPartResult()` *before* listeners that can generate failures. This
ensures that failures generated by the latter are attributed to the right test
by the former.
1762

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1763
1764
See [sample10_unittest.cc] for an example of a failure-raising listener.

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1765
[sample10_unittest.cc]: https://github.com/google/googletest/blob/master/googletest/samples/sample10_unittest.cc "Failure-raising listener example"
1766

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1767
## Running Test Programs: Advanced Options
1768

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1769
1770
googletest test programs are ordinary executables. Once built, you can run them
directly and affect their behavior via the following environment variables
1771
1772
1773
and/or command line flags. For the flags to work, your programs must call
`::testing::InitGoogleTest()` before calling `RUN_ALL_TESTS()`.

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1774
1775
To see a list of supported flags and their usage, please run your test program
with the `--help` flag. You can also use `-h`, `-?`, or `/?` for short.
1776

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1777
1778
If an option is specified both by an environment variable and by a flag, the
latter takes precedence.
1779

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1780
### Selecting Tests
1781

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1782
#### Listing Test Names
1783
1784
1785
1786
1787

Sometimes it is necessary to list the available tests in a program before
running them so that a filter may be applied if needed. Including the flag
`--gtest_list_tests` overrides all other flags and lists tests in the following
format:
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1788
1789

```none
1790
TestSuite1.
1791
1792
  TestName1
  TestName2
1793
TestSuite2.
1794
1795
1796
1797
1798
1799
  TestName
```

None of the tests listed are actually run if the flag is provided. There is no
corresponding environment variable for this flag.

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1800
#### Running a Subset of the Tests
1801

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1802
1803
1804
1805
By default, a googletest program runs all tests the user has defined. Sometimes,
you want to run only a subset of the tests (e.g. for debugging or quickly
verifying a change). If you set the `GTEST_FILTER` environment variable or the
`--gtest_filter` flag to a filter string, googletest will only run the tests
1806
whose full names (in the form of `TestSuiteName.TestName`) match the filter.
1807
1808

The format of a filter is a '`:`'-separated list of wildcard patterns (called
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1809
1810
1811
the *positive patterns*) optionally followed by a '`-`' and another
'`:`'-separated pattern list (called the *negative patterns*). A test matches
the filter if and only if it matches any of the positive patterns but does not
1812
1813
1814
match any of the negative patterns.

A pattern may contain `'*'` (matches any string) or `'?'` (matches any single
1815
1816
character). For convenience, the filter `'*-NegativePatterns'` can be also
written as `'-NegativePatterns'`.
1817

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1818
For example:
1819

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1820
1821
1822
*   `./foo_test` Has no flag, and thus runs all its tests.
*   `./foo_test --gtest_filter=*` Also runs everything, due to the single
    match-everything `*` value.
1823
1824
*   `./foo_test --gtest_filter=FooTest.*` Runs everything in test suite
    `FooTest` .
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1825
1826
1827
1828
*   `./foo_test --gtest_filter=*Null*:*Constructor*` Runs any test whose full
    name contains either `"Null"` or `"Constructor"` .
*   `./foo_test --gtest_filter=-*DeathTest.*` Runs all non-death tests.
*   `./foo_test --gtest_filter=FooTest.*-FooTest.Bar` Runs everything in test
1829
    suite `FooTest` except `FooTest.Bar`.
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1830
*   `./foo_test --gtest_filter=FooTest.*:BarTest.*-FooTest.Bar:BarTest.Foo` Runs
1831
1832
1833
    everything in test suite `FooTest` except `FooTest.Bar` and everything in
    test suite `BarTest` except `BarTest.Foo`.

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1834
1835
1836
1837
1838
1839
1840
1841
1842
#### Stop test execution upon first failure

By default, a googletest program runs all tests the user has defined. In some
cases (e.g. iterative test development & execution) it may be desirable stop
test execution upon first failure (trading improved latency for completeness).
If `GTEST_FAIL_FAST` environment variable or `--gtest_fail_fast` flag is set,
the test runner will stop execution as soon as the first test failure is
found.

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1843
#### Temporarily Disabling Tests
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
1849

If you have a broken test that you cannot fix right away, you can add the
`DISABLED_` prefix to its name. This will exclude it from execution. This is
better than commenting out the code or using `#if 0`, as disabled tests are
still compiled (and thus won't rot).

1850
If you need to disable all tests in a test suite, you can either add `DISABLED_`
1851
to the front of the name of each test, or alternatively add it to the front of
1852
the test suite name.
1853

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1854
For example, the following tests won't be run by googletest, even though they
1855
1856
will still be compiled:

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1857
```c++
1858
1859
1860
// Tests that Foo does Abc.
TEST(FooTest, DISABLED_DoesAbc) { ... }

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1861
class DISABLED_BarTest : public testing::Test { ... };
1862
1863
1864
1865
1866

// Tests that Bar does Xyz.
TEST_F(DISABLED_BarTest, DoesXyz) { ... }
```

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1867
{: .callout .note}
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1868
1869
1870
NOTE: This feature should only be used for temporary pain-relief. You still have
to fix the disabled tests at a later date. As a reminder, googletest will print
a banner warning you if a test program contains any disabled tests.
1871

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1872
{: .callout .tip}
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1873
1874
1875
TIP: You can easily count the number of disabled tests you have using
`grep`. This number can be used as a metric for
improving your test quality.
1876

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1877
#### Temporarily Enabling Disabled Tests
1878

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1879
1880
1881
1882
1883
To include disabled tests in test execution, just invoke the test program with
the `--gtest_also_run_disabled_tests` flag or set the
`GTEST_ALSO_RUN_DISABLED_TESTS` environment variable to a value other than `0`.
You can combine this with the `--gtest_filter` flag to further select which
disabled tests to run.
1884

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1885
### Repeating the Tests
1886
1887
1888
1889
1890

Once in a while you'll run into a test whose result is hit-or-miss. Perhaps it
will fail only 1% of the time, making it rather hard to reproduce the bug under
a debugger. This can be a major source of frustration.

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1891
1892
1893
The `--gtest_repeat` flag allows you to repeat all (or selected) test methods in
a program many times. Hopefully, a flaky test will eventually fail and give you
a chance to debug. Here's how to use it:
1894

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1895
1896
1897
```none
$ foo_test --gtest_repeat=1000
Repeat foo_test 1000 times and don't stop at failures.
1898

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1899
1900
$ foo_test --gtest_repeat=-1
A negative count means repeating forever.
1901

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1902
1903
1904
1905
1906
$ foo_test --gtest_repeat=1000 --gtest_break_on_failure
Repeat foo_test 1000 times, stopping at the first failure.  This
is especially useful when running under a debugger: when the test
fails, it will drop into the debugger and you can then inspect
variables and stacks.
1907

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1908
1909
1910
1911
$ foo_test --gtest_repeat=1000 --gtest_filter=FooBar.*
Repeat the tests whose name matches the filter 1000 times.
```

1912
1913
1914
1915
If your test program contains
[global set-up/tear-down](#global-set-up-and-tear-down) code, it will be
repeated in each iteration as well, as the flakiness may be in it. You can also
specify the repeat count by setting the `GTEST_REPEAT` environment variable.
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1916
1917

### Shuffling the Tests
1918
1919

You can specify the `--gtest_shuffle` flag (or set the `GTEST_SHUFFLE`
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1920
1921
1922
1923
1924
1925
1926
1927
1928
1929
environment variable to `1`) to run the tests in a program in a random order.
This helps to reveal bad dependencies between tests.

By default, googletest uses a random seed calculated from the current time.
Therefore you'll get a different order every time. The console output includes
the random seed value, such that you can reproduce an order-related test failure
later. To specify the random seed explicitly, use the `--gtest_random_seed=SEED`
flag (or set the `GTEST_RANDOM_SEED` environment variable), where `SEED` is an
integer in the range [0, 99999]. The seed value 0 is special: it tells
googletest to do the default behavior of calculating the seed from the current
1930
1931
time.

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1932
1933
1934
1935
If you combine this with `--gtest_repeat=N`, googletest will pick a different
random seed and re-shuffle the tests in each iteration.

### Controlling Test Output
1936

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1937
#### Colored Terminal Output
1938

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1939
1940
googletest can use colors in its terminal output to make it easier to spot the
important information:
1941

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
<pre>...
<font color="green">[----------]</font> 1 test from FooTest
<font color="green">[ RUN      ]</font> FooTest.DoesAbc
<font color="green">[       OK ]</font> FooTest.DoesAbc
<font color="green">[----------]</font> 2 tests from BarTest
<font color="green">[ RUN      ]</font> BarTest.HasXyzProperty
<font color="green">[       OK ]</font> BarTest.HasXyzProperty
<font color="green">[ RUN      ]</font> BarTest.ReturnsTrueOnSuccess
... some error messages ...
<font color="red">[   FAILED ]</font> BarTest.ReturnsTrueOnSuccess
...
<font color="green">[==========]</font> 30 tests from 14 test suites ran.
<font color="green">[   PASSED ]</font> 28 tests.
<font color="red">[   FAILED ]</font> 2 tests, listed below:
<font color="red">[   FAILED ]</font> BarTest.ReturnsTrueOnSuccess
<font color="red">[   FAILED ]</font> AnotherTest.DoesXyz

 2 FAILED TESTS
</pre>
1961

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1962
You can set the `GTEST_COLOR` environment variable or the `--gtest_color`
1963
command line flag to `yes`, `no`, or `auto` (the default) to enable colors,
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1964
1965
1966
disable colors, or let googletest decide. When the value is `auto`, googletest
will use colors if and only if the output goes to a terminal and (on non-Windows
platforms) the `TERM` environment variable is set to `xterm` or `xterm-color`.
1967

Calum Robinson's avatar
Calum Robinson committed
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
#### Suppressing test passes

By default, googletest prints 1 line of output for each test, indicating if it
passed or failed. To show only test failures, run the test program with
`--gtest_brief=1`, or set the GTEST_BRIEF environment variable to `1`.

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1974
#### Suppressing the Elapsed Time
1975

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1976
1977
1978
By default, googletest prints the time it takes to run each test. To disable
that, run the test program with the `--gtest_print_time=0` command line flag, or
set the GTEST_PRINT_TIME environment variable to `0`.
1979

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1980
1981
#### Suppressing UTF-8 Text Output

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
In case of assertion failures, googletest prints expected and actual values of
type `string` both as hex-encoded strings as well as in readable UTF-8 text if
they contain valid non-ASCII UTF-8 characters. If you want to suppress the UTF-8
text because, for example, you don't have an UTF-8 compatible output medium, run
the test program with `--gtest_print_utf8=0` or set the `GTEST_PRINT_UTF8`
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1987
1988
environment variable to `0`.

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1989

1990

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1991
1992
1993
1994
#### Generating an XML Report

googletest can emit a detailed XML report to a file in addition to its normal
textual output. The report contains the duration of each test, and thus can help
Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
1995
you identify slow tests.
1996
1997

To generate the XML report, set the `GTEST_OUTPUT` environment variable or the
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
1998
1999
2000
2001
`--gtest_output` flag to the string `"xml:path_to_output_file"`, which will
create the file at the given location. You can also just use the string `"xml"`,
in which case the output can be found in the `test_detail.xml` file in the
current directory.
2002
2003

If you specify a directory (for example, `"xml:output/directory/"` on Linux or
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
2004
`"xml:output\directory\"` on Windows), googletest will create the XML file in
2005
2006
that directory, named after the test executable (e.g. `foo_test.xml` for test
program `foo_test` or `foo_test.exe`). If the file already exists (perhaps left
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
2007
over from a previous run), googletest will pick a different name (e.g.
2008
2009
`foo_test_1.xml`) to avoid overwriting it.

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
The report is based on the `junitreport` Ant task. Since that format was
originally intended for Java, a little interpretation is required to make it
apply to googletest tests, as shown here:

```xml
2015
<testsuites name="AllTests" ...>
2016
  <testsuite name="test_case_name" ...>
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
2017
    <testcase    name="test_name" ...>
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
      <failure message="..."/>
      <failure message="..."/>
      <failure message="..."/>
    </testcase>
  </testsuite>
</testsuites>
```

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
2026
*   The root `<testsuites>` element corresponds to the entire test program.
2027
*   `<testsuite>` elements correspond to googletest test suites.
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
2028
*   `<testcase>` elements correspond to googletest test functions.
2029
2030
2031

For instance, the following program

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
2032
```c++
2033
2034
2035
2036
2037
2038
2039
TEST(MathTest, Addition) { ... }
TEST(MathTest, Subtraction) { ... }
TEST(LogicTest, NonContradiction) { ... }
```

could generate this report:

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
2040
```xml
2041
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
2042
2043
2044
2045
2046
<testsuites tests="3" failures="1" errors="0" time="0.035" timestamp="2011-10-31T18:52:42" name="AllTests">
  <testsuite name="MathTest" tests="2" failures="1" errors="0" time="0.015">
    <testcase name="Addition" status="run" time="0.007" classname="">
      <failure message="Value of: add(1, 1)&#x0A;  Actual: 3&#x0A;Expected: 2" type="">...</failure>
      <failure message="Value of: add(1, -1)&#x0A;  Actual: 1&#x0A;Expected: 0" type="">...</failure>
2047
    </testcase>
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
2048
    <testcase name="Subtraction" status="run" time="0.005" classname="">
2049
2050
    </testcase>
  </testsuite>
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
2051
2052
  <testsuite name="LogicTest" tests="1" failures="0" errors="0" time="0.005">
    <testcase name="NonContradiction" status="run" time="0.005" classname="">
2053
2054
2055
2056
2057
2058
2059
    </testcase>
  </testsuite>
</testsuites>
```

Things to note:

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
2060
*   The `tests` attribute of a `<testsuites>` or `<testsuite>` element tells how
2061
    many test functions the googletest program or test suite contains, while the
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
2062
2063
    `failures` attribute tells how many of them failed.

2064
*   The `time` attribute expresses the duration of the test, test suite, or
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
2065
2066
2067
2068
    entire test program in seconds.

*   The `timestamp` attribute records the local date and time of the test
    execution.
2069

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
2070
2071
*   Each `<failure>` element corresponds to a single failed googletest
    assertion.
2072

2073
#### Generating a JSON Report
2074

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
2075
2076
2077
googletest can also emit a JSON report as an alternative format to XML. To
generate the JSON report, set the `GTEST_OUTPUT` environment variable or the
`--gtest_output` flag to the string `"json:path_to_output_file"`, which will
2078
2079
2080
2081
2082
2083
2084
2085
2086
2087
2088
create the file at the given location. You can also just use the string
`"json"`, in which case the output can be found in the `test_detail.json` file
in the current directory.

The report format conforms to the following JSON Schema:

```json
{
  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/schema#",
  "type": "object",
  "definitions": {
2089
    "TestCase": {
2090
2091
2092
2093
2094
2095
2096
2097
2098
2099
2100
2101
2102
2103
2104
2105
2106
2107
2108
2109
2110
2111
2112
2113
2114
2115
2116
2117
2118
2119
2120
2121
2122
2123
2124
2125
2126
2127
2128
2129
2130
2131
2132
2133
2134
2135
2136
2137
2138
2139
2140
2141
2142
2143
2144
      "type": "object",
      "properties": {
        "name": { "type": "string" },
        "tests": { "type": "integer" },
        "failures": { "type": "integer" },
        "disabled": { "type": "integer" },
        "time": { "type": "string" },
        "testsuite": {
          "type": "array",
          "items": {
            "$ref": "#/definitions/TestInfo"
          }
        }
      }
    },
    "TestInfo": {
      "type": "object",
      "properties": {
        "name": { "type": "string" },
        "status": {
          "type": "string",
          "enum": ["RUN", "NOTRUN"]
        },
        "time": { "type": "string" },
        "classname": { "type": "string" },
        "failures": {
          "type": "array",
          "items": {
            "$ref": "#/definitions/Failure"
          }
        }
      }
    },
    "Failure": {
      "type": "object",
      "properties": {
        "failures": { "type": "string" },
        "type": { "type": "string" }
      }
    }
  },
  "properties": {
    "tests": { "type": "integer" },
    "failures": { "type": "integer" },
    "disabled": { "type": "integer" },
    "errors": { "type": "integer" },
    "timestamp": {
      "type": "string",
      "format": "date-time"
    },
    "time": { "type": "string" },
    "name": { "type": "string" },
    "testsuites": {
      "type": "array",
      "items": {
2145
        "$ref": "#/definitions/TestCase"
2146
2147
2148
2149
2150
2151
      }
    }
  }
}
```

2152
2153
The report uses the format that conforms to the following Proto3 using the
[JSON encoding](https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/docs/proto3#json):
2154
2155
2156
2157
2158
2159
2160
2161
2162
2163
2164
2165
2166
2167
2168
2169
2170

```proto
syntax = "proto3";

package googletest;

import "google/protobuf/timestamp.proto";
import "google/protobuf/duration.proto";

message UnitTest {
  int32 tests = 1;
  int32 failures = 2;
  int32 disabled = 3;
  int32 errors = 4;
  google.protobuf.Timestamp timestamp = 5;
  google.protobuf.Duration time = 6;
  string name = 7;
2171
  repeated TestCase testsuites = 8;
2172
2173
2174
2175
2176
2177
2178
2179
2180
2181
2182
2183
2184
2185
2186
2187
2188
2189
2190
2191
2192
2193
2194
2195
2196
2197
2198
2199
2200
2201
2202
2203
2204
2205
2206
2207
2208
2209
2210
2211
2212
2213
2214
2215
2216
}

message TestCase {
  string name = 1;
  int32 tests = 2;
  int32 failures = 3;
  int32 disabled = 4;
  int32 errors = 5;
  google.protobuf.Duration time = 6;
  repeated TestInfo testsuite = 7;
}

message TestInfo {
  string name = 1;
  enum Status {
    RUN = 0;
    NOTRUN = 1;
  }
  Status status = 2;
  google.protobuf.Duration time = 3;
  string classname = 4;
  message Failure {
    string failures = 1;
    string type = 2;
  }
  repeated Failure failures = 5;
}
```

For instance, the following program

```c++
TEST(MathTest, Addition) { ... }
TEST(MathTest, Subtraction) { ... }
TEST(LogicTest, NonContradiction) { ... }
```

could generate this report:

```json
{
  "tests": 3,
  "failures": 1,
  "errors": 0,
  "time": "0.035s",
2217
  "timestamp": "2011-10-31T18:52:42Z",
2218
2219
2220
2221
2222
2223
2224
2225
2226
2227
2228
2229
2230
2231
2232
2233
  "name": "AllTests",
  "testsuites": [
    {
      "name": "MathTest",
      "tests": 2,
      "failures": 1,
      "errors": 0,
      "time": "0.015s",
      "testsuite": [
        {
          "name": "Addition",
          "status": "RUN",
          "time": "0.007s",
          "classname": "",
          "failures": [
            {
2234
              "message": "Value of: add(1, 1)\n  Actual: 3\nExpected: 2",
2235
2236
2237
              "type": ""
            },
            {
2238
              "message": "Value of: add(1, -1)\n  Actual: 1\nExpected: 0",
2239
2240
2241
2242
2243
2244
2245
2246
2247
2248
2249
              "type": ""
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "Subtraction",
          "status": "RUN",
          "time": "0.005s",
          "classname": ""
        }
      ]
2250
    },
2251
2252
2253
2254
2255
2256
2257
2258
2259
2260
2261
2262
2263
2264
2265
2266
2267
2268
2269
    {
      "name": "LogicTest",
      "tests": 1,
      "failures": 0,
      "errors": 0,
      "time": "0.005s",
      "testsuite": [
        {
          "name": "NonContradiction",
          "status": "RUN",
          "time": "0.005s",
          "classname": ""
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}
```

Abseil Team's avatar
Abseil Team committed
2270
{: .callout .important}
2271
2272
IMPORTANT: The exact format of the JSON document is subject to change.

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
2273
### Controlling How Failures Are Reported
2274

2275
2276
2277
2278
2279
2280
2281
2282
2283
2284
2285
2286
#### Detecting Test Premature Exit

Google Test implements the _premature-exit-file_ protocol for test runners
to catch any kind of unexpected exits of test programs. Upon start,
Google Test creates the file which will be automatically deleted after
all work has been finished. Then, the test runner can check if this file
exists. In case the file remains undeleted, the inspected test has exited
prematurely.

This feature is enabled only if the `TEST_PREMATURE_EXIT_FILE` environment
variable has been set.

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
2287
#### Turning Assertion Failures into Break-Points
2288
2289
2290

When running test programs under a debugger, it's very convenient if the
debugger can catch an assertion failure and automatically drop into interactive
Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
2291
mode. googletest's *break-on-failure* mode supports this behavior.
2292
2293

To enable it, set the `GTEST_BREAK_ON_FAILURE` environment variable to a value
2294
other than `0`. Alternatively, you can use the `--gtest_break_on_failure`
2295
2296
command line flag.

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
2297
#### Disabling Catching Test-Thrown Exceptions
2298

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
2299
2300
2301
2302
2303
2304
googletest can be used either with or without exceptions enabled. If a test
throws a C++ exception or (on Windows) a structured exception (SEH), by default
googletest catches it, reports it as a test failure, and continues with the next
test method. This maximizes the coverage of a test run. Also, on Windows an
uncaught exception will cause a pop-up window, so catching the exceptions allows
you to run the tests automatically.
2305

Gennadiy Civil's avatar
Gennadiy Civil committed
2306
2307
2308
2309
2310
When debugging the test failures, however, you may instead want the exceptions
to be handled by the debugger, such that you can examine the call stack when an
exception is thrown. To achieve that, set the `GTEST_CATCH_EXCEPTIONS`
environment variable to `0`, or use the `--gtest_catch_exceptions=0` flag when
running the tests.
2311
2312
2313
2314
2315
2316
2317
2318
2319
2320
2321
2322
2323
2324
2325
2326
2327
2328
2329
2330
2331
2332
2333
2334
2335
2336
2337
2338
2339

### Sanitizer Integration

The
[Undefined Behavior Sanitizer](https://clang.llvm.org/docs/UndefinedBehaviorSanitizer.html),
[Address Sanitizer](https://github.com/google/sanitizers/wiki/AddressSanitizer),
and
[Thread Sanitizer](https://github.com/google/sanitizers/wiki/ThreadSanitizerCppManual)
all provide weak functions that you can override to trigger explicit failures
when they detect sanitizer errors, such as creating a reference from `nullptr`.
To override these functions, place definitions for them in a source file that
you compile as part of your main binary:

```
extern "C" {
void __ubsan_on_report() {
  FAIL() << "Encountered an undefined behavior sanitizer error";
}
void __asan_on_error() {
  FAIL() << "Encountered an address sanitizer error";
}
void __tsan_on_report() {
  FAIL() << "Encountered a thread sanitizer error";
}
}  // extern "C"
```

After compiling your project with one of the sanitizers enabled, if a particular
test triggers a sanitizer error, googletest will report that it failed.