src/ch11-01-writing-tests.md

## How to Write Tests

Tests are Rust functions that verify that the non-test code is functioning in
the expected manner. The bodies of test functions typically perform these three
actions:

* Set up any needed data or state.
* Run the code you want to test.
* Assert that the results are what you expect.

Let’s look at the features Rust provides specifically for writing tests that
take these actions, which include the `test` attribute, a few macros, and the
`should_panic` attribute.

### The Anatomy of a Test Function

At its simplest, a test in Rust is a function that’s annotated with the `test`
attribute. Attributes are metadata about pieces of Rust code; one example is the
`derive` attribute we used with structs in Chapter 5. To change a function into
a test function, add `#[test]` on the line before `fn`. When you run your tests
with the `cargo test` command, Rust builds a test runner binary that runs the
annotated functions and reports on whether each test function passes or fails.

Whenever we make a new library project with Cargo, a test module with a test
function in it is automatically generated for us. This module gives you a
template for writing your tests so you don’t have to look up the exact structure
and syntax every time you start a new project. You can add as many additional
test functions and as many test modules as you want!

We’ll explore some aspects of how tests work by experimenting with the template
test before we actually test any code. Then we’ll write some real-world tests
that call some code that we’ve written and assert that its behavior is correct.

Let’s create a new library project called `adder` that will add two numbers:

```console
$ cargo new adder --lib
     Created library `adder` project
$ cd adder
```

The contents of the _src/lib.rs_ file in your `adder` library should look like
Listing 11-1.

<Listing number="11-1" file-name="src/lib.rs" caption="The code generated automatically by `cargo new`">

<!-- manual-regeneration
cd listings/ch11-writing-automated-tests
rm -rf listing-11-01
cargo new listing-11-01 --lib --name adder
cd listing-11-01
echo "$ cargo test" > output.txt
RUSTFLAGS="-A unused_variables -A dead_code" RUST_TEST_THREADS=1 cargo test >> output.txt 2>&1
git diff output.txt # commit any relevant changes; discard irrelevant ones
cd ../../..
-->

```rust,noplayground
{{#rustdoc_include ../listings/ch11-writing-automated-tests/listing-11-01/src/lib.rs}}
```

</Listing>

For now, let’s focus solely on the `it_works` function. Note the `#[test]`
annotation: this attribute indicates this is a test function, so the test runner
knows to treat this function as a test. We might also have non-test functions in
the `tests` module to help set up common scenarios or perform common operations,
so we always need to indicate which functions are tests.

The example function body uses the `assert_eq!` macro to assert that `result`,
which contains the result of adding 2 and 2, equals 4. This assertion serves as
an example of the format for a typical test. Let’s run it to see that this test
passes.

The `cargo test` command runs all tests in our project, as shown in Listing
11-2.

<Listing number="11-2" caption="The output from running the automatically generated test">

```console
{{#include ../listings/ch11-writing-automated-tests/listing-11-01/output.txt}}
```

</Listing>

Cargo compiled and ran the test. We see the line `running 1 test`. The next line
shows the name of the generated test function, called `tests::it_works`, and
that the result of running that test is `ok`. The overall summary
`test
result: ok.` means that all the tests passed, and the portion that reads
`1
passed; 0 failed` totals the number of tests that passed or failed.

It’s possible to mark a test as ignored so it doesn’t run in a particular
instance; we’ll cover that in the
[“Ignoring Some Tests Unless Specifically Requested”][ignoring]<!-- ignore -->
section later in this chapter. Because we haven’t done that here, the summary
shows `0 ignored`.

The `0 measured` statistic is for benchmark tests that measure performance.
Benchmark tests are, as of this writing, only available in nightly Rust. See
[the documentation about benchmark tests][bench] to learn more.

We can pass an argument to the `cargo test` command to run only tests whose name
matches a string; this is called _filtering_ and we’ll cover that in the
[“Running a Subset of Tests by Name”][subset]<!-- ignore --> section. Here we
haven’t filtered the tests being run, so the end of the summary shows
`0
filtered out`.

The next part of the test output starting at `Doc-tests adder` is for the
results of any documentation tests. We don’t have any documentation tests yet,
but Rust can compile any code examples that appear in our API documentation.
This feature helps keep your docs and your code in sync! We’ll discuss how to
write documentation tests in the
[“Documentation Comments as Tests”][doc-comments]<!-- ignore --> section of
Chapter 14. For now, we’ll ignore the `Doc-tests` output.

Let’s start to customize the test to our own needs. First, change the name of
the `it_works` function to a different name, such as `exploration`, like so:

<span class="filename">Filename: src/lib.rs</span>

```rust,noplayground
{{#rustdoc_include ../listings/ch11-writing-automated-tests/no-listing-01-changing-test-name/src/lib.rs}}
```

Then run `cargo test` again. The output now shows `exploration` instead of
`it_works`:

```console
{{#include ../listings/ch11-writing-automated-tests/no-listing-01-changing-test-name/output.txt}}
```

Now we’ll add another test, but this time we’ll make a test that fails! Tests
fail when something in the test function panics. Each test is run in a new
thread, and when the main thread sees that a test thread has died, the test is
marked as failed. In Chapter 9, we talked about how the simplest way to panic is
to call the `panic!` macro. Enter the new test as a function named `another`, so
your _src/lib.rs_ file looks like Listing 11-3.

<Listing number="11-3" file-name="src/lib.rs" caption="Adding a second test that will fail because we call the `panic!` macro">

```rust,panics,noplayground
{{#rustdoc_include ../listings/ch11-writing-automated-tests/listing-11-03/src/lib.rs}}
```

</Listing>

Run the tests again using `cargo test`. The output should look like Listing
11-4, which shows that our `exploration` test passed and `another` failed.

<Listing number="11-4" caption="Test results when one test passes and one test fails">

```console
{{#include ../listings/ch11-writing-automated-tests/listing-11-03/output.txt}}
```

</Listing>

<!-- manual-regeneration
rg panicked listings/ch11-writing-automated-tests/listing-11-03/output.txt
check the line number of the panic matches the line number in the following paragraph
 -->

Instead of `ok`, the line `test tests::another` shows `FAILED`. Two new sections
appear between the individual results and the summary: the first displays the
detailed reason for each test failure. In this case, we get the details that
`another` failed because it `panicked at 'Make this test fail'` on line 17 in
the _src/lib.rs_ file. The next section lists just the names of all the failing
tests, which is useful when there are lots of tests and lots of detailed failing
test output. We can use the name of a failing test to run just that test to more
easily debug it; we’ll talk more about ways to run tests in the
[“Controlling How Tests Are Run”][controlling-how-tests-are-run]<!-- ignore
--> section.

The summary line displays at the end: overall, our test result is `FAILED`. We
had one test pass and one test fail.

Now that you’ve seen what the test results look like in different scenarios,
let’s look at some macros other than `panic!` that are useful in tests.

### Checking Results with the `assert!` Macro

The `assert!` macro, provided by the standard library, is useful when you want
to ensure that some condition in a test evaluates to `true`. We give the
`assert!` macro an argument that evaluates to a Boolean. If the value is `true`,
nothing happens and the test passes. If the value is `false`, the `assert!`
macro calls `panic!` to cause the test to fail. Using the `assert!` macro helps
us check that our code is functioning in the way we intend.

In Chapter 5, Listing 5-15, we used a `Rectangle` struct and a `can_hold`
method, which are repeated here in Listing 11-5. Let’s put this code in the
_src/lib.rs_ file, then write some tests for it using the `assert!` macro.

<Listing number="11-5" file-name="src/lib.rs" caption="The `Rectangle` struct and its `can_hold` method from Chapter 5">

```rust,noplayground
{{#rustdoc_include ../listings/ch11-writing-automated-tests/listing-11-05/src/lib.rs}}
```

</Listing>

The `can_hold` method returns a Boolean, which means it’s a perfect use case for
the `assert!` macro. In Listing 11-6, we write a test that exercises the
`can_hold` method by creating a `Rectangle` instance that has a width of 8 and a
height of 7 and asserting that it can hold another `Rectangle` instance that has
a width of 5 and a height of 1.

<Listing number="11-6" file-name="src/lib.rs" caption="A test for `can_hold` that checks whether a larger rectangle can indeed hold a smaller rectangle">

```rust,noplayground
{{#rustdoc_include ../listings/ch11-writing-automated-tests/listing-11-06/src/lib.rs:here}}
```

</Listing>

Note the `use super::*;` line inside the `tests` module. The `tests` module is a
regular module that follows the usual visibility rules we covered in Chapter 7
in the
[“Paths for Referring to an Item in the Module
Tree”][paths-for-referring-to-an-item-in-the-module-tree]<!-- ignore -->
section. Because the `tests` module is an inner module, we need to bring the
code under test in the outer module into the scope of the inner module. We use a
glob here, so anything we define in the outer module is available to this
`tests` module.

We’ve named our test `larger_can_hold_smaller`, and we’ve created the two
`Rectangle` instances that we need. Then we called the `assert!` macro and
passed it the result of calling `larger.can_hold(&smaller)`. This expression is
supposed to return `true`, so our test should pass. Let’s find out!

```console
{{#include ../listings/ch11-writing-automated-tests/listing-11-06/output.txt}}
```

It does pass! Let’s add another test, this time asserting that a smaller
rectangle cannot hold a larger rectangle:

<span class="filename">Filename: src/lib.rs</span>

```rust,noplayground
{{#rustdoc_include ../listings/ch11-writing-automated-tests/no-listing-02-adding-another-rectangle-test/src/lib.rs:here}}
```

Because the correct result of the `can_hold` function in this case is `false`,
we need to negate that result before we pass it to the `assert!` macro. As a
result, our test will pass if `can_hold` returns `false`:

```console
{{#include ../listings/ch11-writing-automated-tests/no-listing-02-adding-another-rectangle-test/output.txt}}
```

Two tests that pass! Now let’s see what happens to our test results when we
introduce a bug in our code. We’ll change the implementation of the `can_hold`
method by replacing the greater-than sign with a less-than sign when it compares
the widths:

```rust,not_desired_behavior,noplayground
{{#rustdoc_include ../listings/ch11-writing-automated-tests/no-listing-03-introducing-a-bug/src/lib.rs:here}}
```

Running the tests now produces the following:

```console
{{#include ../listings/ch11-writing-automated-tests/no-listing-03-introducing-a-bug/output.txt}}
```

Our tests caught the bug! Because `larger.width` is `8` and `smaller.width` is
`5`, the comparison of the widths in `can_hold` now returns `false`: 8 is not
less than 5.

### Testing Equality with the `assert_eq!` and `assert_ne!` Macros

A common way to verify functionality is to test for equality between the result
of the code under test and the value you expect the code to return. You could do
this by using the `assert!` macro and passing it an expression using the `==`
operator. However, this is such a common test that the standard library provides
a pair of macros—`assert_eq!` and `assert_ne!`—to perform this test more
conveniently. These macros compare two arguments for equality or inequality,
respectively. They’ll also print the two values if the assertion fails, which
makes it easier to see _why_ the test failed; conversely, the `assert!` macro
only indicates that it got a `false` value for the `==` expression, without
printing the values that led to the `false` value.

In Listing 11-7, we write a function named `add_two` that adds `2` to its
parameter, then we test this function using the `assert_eq!` macro.

<Listing number="11-7" file-name="src/lib.rs" caption="Testing the function `add_two` using the `assert_eq!` macro">

```rust,noplayground
{{#rustdoc_include ../listings/ch11-writing-automated-tests/listing-11-07/src/lib.rs}}
```

</Listing>

Let’s check that it passes!

```console
{{#include ../listings/ch11-writing-automated-tests/listing-11-07/output.txt}}
```

We create a variable named `result` that holds the result of calling
`add_two(2)`. Then we pass `result` and `4` as the arguments to `assert_eq!`.
The output line for this test is `test tests::it_adds_two ... ok`, and the `ok`
text indicates that our test passed!

Let’s introduce a bug into our code to see what `assert_eq!` looks like when it
fails. Change the implementation of the `add_two` function to instead add `3`:

```rust,not_desired_behavior,noplayground
{{#rustdoc_include ../listings/ch11-writing-automated-tests/no-listing-04-bug-in-add-two/src/lib.rs:here}}
```

Run the tests again:

```console
{{#include ../listings/ch11-writing-automated-tests/no-listing-04-bug-in-add-two/output.txt}}
```

Our test caught the bug! The `it_adds_two` test failed, and the message tells us
``assertion `left == right` failed`` and what the `left` and `right` values are.
This message helps us start debugging: the `left` argument, where we had the
result of calling `add_two(2)`, was `5` but the `right` argument was `4`. You
can imagine that this would be especially helpful when we have a lot of tests
going on.

Note that in some languages and test frameworks, the parameters to equality
assertion functions are called `expected` and `actual`, and the order in which
we specify the arguments matters. However, in Rust, they’re called `left` and
`right`, and the order in which we specify the value we expect and the value the
code produces doesn’t matter. We could write the assertion in this test as
`assert_eq!(4, result)`, which would produce the same failure message that
displays `` assertion failed: `(left == right)` ``.

The `assert_ne!` macro will pass if the two values we give it are not equal and
fail if they’re equal. This macro is most useful for cases when we’re not sure
what a value _will_ be, but we know what the value definitely _shouldn’t_ be.
For example, if we’re testing a function that is guaranteed to change its input
in some way, but the way in which the input is changed depends on the day of the
week that we run our tests, the best thing to assert might be that the output of
the function is not equal to the input.

Under the surface, the `assert_eq!` and `assert_ne!` macros use the operators
`==` and `!=`, respectively. When the assertions fail, these macros print their
arguments using debug formatting, which means the values being compared must
implement the `PartialEq` and `Debug` traits. All primitive types and most of
the standard library types implement these traits. For structs and enums that
you define yourself, you’ll need to implement `PartialEq` to assert equality of
those types. You’ll also need to implement `Debug` to print the values when the
assertion fails. Because both traits are derivable traits, as mentioned in
Listing 5-12 in Chapter 5, this is usually as straightforward as adding the
`#[derive(PartialEq, Debug)]` annotation to your struct or enum definition. See
Appendix C, [“Derivable Traits,”][derivable-traits]<!-- ignore --> for more
details about these and other derivable traits.

### Adding Custom Failure Messages

You can also add a custom message to be printed with the failure message as
optional arguments to the `assert!`, `assert_eq!`, and `assert_ne!` macros. Any
arguments specified after the required arguments are passed along to the
`format!` macro (discussed in Chapter 8 in the
[“Concatenation with the `+` Operator or the `format!`
Macro”][concatenation-with-the--operator-or-the-format-macro]<!-- ignore -->
section), so you can pass a format string that contains `{}` placeholders and
values to go in those placeholders. Custom messages are useful for documenting
what an assertion means; when a test fails, you’ll have a better idea of what
the problem is with the code.

For example, let’s say we have a function that greets people by name and we want
to test that the name we pass into the function appears in the output:

<span class="filename">Filename: src/lib.rs</span>

```rust,noplayground
{{#rustdoc_include ../listings/ch11-writing-automated-tests/no-listing-05-greeter/src/lib.rs}}
```

The requirements for this program haven’t been agreed upon yet, and we’re pretty
sure the `Hello` text at the beginning of the greeting will change. We decided
we don’t want to have to update the test when the requirements change, so
instead of checking for exact equality to the value returned from the `greeting`
function, we’ll just assert that the output contains the text of the input
parameter.

Now let’s introduce a bug into this code by changing `greeting` to exclude
`name` to see what the default test failure looks like:

```rust,not_desired_behavior,noplayground
{{#rustdoc_include ../listings/ch11-writing-automated-tests/no-listing-06-greeter-with-bug/src/lib.rs:here}}
```

Running this test produces the following:

```console
{{#include ../listings/ch11-writing-automated-tests/no-listing-06-greeter-with-bug/output.txt}}
```

This result just indicates that the assertion failed and which line the
assertion is on. A more useful failure message would print the value from the
`greeting` function. Let’s add a custom failure message composed of a format
string with a placeholder filled in with the actual value we got from the
`greeting` function:

```rust,ignore
{{#rustdoc_include ../listings/ch11-writing-automated-tests/no-listing-07-custom-failure-message/src/lib.rs:here}}
```

Now when we run the test, we’ll get a more informative error message:

```console
{{#include ../listings/ch11-writing-automated-tests/no-listing-07-custom-failure-message/output.txt}}
```

We can see the value we actually got in the test output, which would help us
debug what happened instead of what we were expecting to happen.

### Checking for Panics with `should_panic`

In addition to checking return values, it’s important to check that our code
handles error conditions as we expect. For example, consider the `Guess` type
that we created in Chapter 9, Listing 9-13. Other code that uses `Guess` depends
on the guarantee that `Guess` instances will contain only values between 1
and 100. We can write a test that ensures that attempting to create a `Guess`
instance with a value outside that range panics.

We do this by adding the attribute `should_panic` to our test function. The test
passes if the code inside the function panics; the test fails if the code inside
the function doesn’t panic.

Listing 11-8 shows a test that checks that the error conditions of `Guess::new`
happen when we expect them to.

<Listing number="11-8" file-name="src/lib.rs" caption="Testing that a condition will cause a `panic!`">

```rust,noplayground
{{#rustdoc_include ../listings/ch11-writing-automated-tests/listing-11-08/src/lib.rs}}
```

</Listing>

We place the `#[should_panic]` attribute after the `#[test]` attribute and
before the test function it applies to. Let’s look at the result when this test
passes:

```console
{{#include ../listings/ch11-writing-automated-tests/listing-11-08/output.txt}}
```

Looks good! Now let’s introduce a bug in our code by removing the condition that
the `new` function will panic if the value is greater than 100:

```rust,not_desired_behavior,noplayground
{{#rustdoc_include ../listings/ch11-writing-automated-tests/no-listing-08-guess-with-bug/src/lib.rs:here}}
```

When we run the test in Listing 11-8, it will fail:

```console
{{#include ../listings/ch11-writing-automated-tests/no-listing-08-guess-with-bug/output.txt}}
```

We don’t get a very helpful message in this case, but when we look at the test
function, we see that it’s annotated with `#[should_panic]`. The failure we got
means that the code in the test function did not cause a panic.

Tests that use `should_panic` can be imprecise. A `should_panic` test would pass
even if the test panics for a different reason from the one we were expecting.
To make `should_panic` tests more precise, we can add an optional `expected`
parameter to the `should_panic` attribute. The test harness will make sure that
the failure message contains the provided text. For example, consider the
modified code for `Guess` in Listing 11-9 where the `new` function panics with
different messages depending on whether the value is too small or too large.

<Listing number="11-9" file-name="src/lib.rs" caption="Testing for a `panic!` with a panic message containing a specified substring">

```rust,noplayground
{{#rustdoc_include ../listings/ch11-writing-automated-tests/listing-11-09/src/lib.rs:here}}
```

</Listing>

This test will pass because the value we put in the `should_panic` attribute’s
`expected` parameter is a substring of the message that the `Guess::new`
function panics with. We could have specified the entire panic message that we
expect, which in this case would be
`Guess value must be less than or equal to
100, got 200`. What you choose to
specify depends on how much of the panic message is unique or dynamic and how
precise you want your test to be. In this case, a substring of the panic message
is enough to ensure that the code in the test function executes the
`else if value > 100` case.

To see what happens when a `should_panic` test with an `expected` message fails,
let’s again introduce a bug into our code by swapping the bodies of the
`if value < 1` and the `else if value > 100` blocks:

```rust,ignore,not_desired_behavior
{{#rustdoc_include ../listings/ch11-writing-automated-tests/no-listing-09-guess-with-panic-msg-bug/src/lib.rs:here}}
```

This time when we run the `should_panic` test, it will fail:

```console
{{#include ../listings/ch11-writing-automated-tests/no-listing-09-guess-with-panic-msg-bug/output.txt}}
```

The failure message indicates that this test did indeed panic as we expected,
but the panic message did not include the expected string
`less than or equal
to 100`. The panic message that we did get in this case was
`Guess value must
be greater than or equal to 1, got 200.` Now we can start
figuring out where our bug is!

### Using `Result<T, E>` in Tests

Our tests so far all panic when they fail. We can also write tests that use
`Result<T, E>`! Here’s the test from Listing 11-1, rewritten to use
`Result<T,
E>` and return an `Err` instead of panicking:

```rust,noplayground
{{#rustdoc_include ../listings/ch11-writing-automated-tests/no-listing-10-result-in-tests/src/lib.rs:here}}
```

The `it_works` function now has the `Result<(), String>` return type. In the
body of the function, rather than calling the `assert_eq!` macro, we return
`Ok(())` when the test passes and an `Err` with a `String` inside when the test
fails.

Writing tests so they return a `Result<T, E>` enables you to use the question
mark operator in the body of tests, which can be a convenient way to write tests
that should fail if any operation within them returns an `Err` variant.

You can’t use the `#[should_panic]` annotation on tests that use `Result<T,
E>`.
To assert that an operation returns an `Err` variant, _don’t_ use the question
mark operator on the `Result<T, E>` value. Instead, use
`assert!(value.is_err())`.

Now that you know several ways to write tests, let’s look at what is happening
when we run our tests and explore the different options we can use with
`cargo
test`.

[concatenation-with-the--operator-or-the-format-macro]: ch08-02-strings.html#concatenation-with-the--operator-or-the-format-macro
[bench]: ../unstable-book/library-features/test.html
[ignoring]: ch11-02-running-tests.html#ignoring-some-tests-unless-specifically-requested
[subset]: ch11-02-running-tests.html#running-a-subset-of-tests-by-name
[controlling-how-tests-are-run]: ch11-02-running-tests.html#controlling-how-tests-are-run
[derivable-traits]: appendix-03-derivable-traits.html
[doc-comments]: ch14-02-publishing-to-crates-io.html#documentation-comments-as-tests
[paths-for-referring-to-an-item-in-the-module-tree]: ch07-03-paths-for-referring-to-an-item-in-the-module-tree.html