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<H1><A NAME="SECTION007300000000000000000">
5.3 <tt class="module">unittest</tt> --
         Unit testing framework</A>
</H1>

<P>
<A NAME="module-unittest"></A>

<P>

<span class="versionnote">New in version 2.1.</span>

<P>
The Python unit testing framework, often referred to as ``PyUnit,'' is
a Python language version of JUnit, by Kent Beck and Erich Gamma.
JUnit is, in turn, a Java version of Kent's Smalltalk testing
framework.  Each is the de facto standard unit testing framework for
its respective language.

<P>
PyUnit supports test automation, sharing of setup and shutdown code
for tests, aggregation of tests into collections, and independence of
the tests from the reporting framework.  The <tt class="module">unittest</tt> module
provides classes that make it easy to support these qualities for a
set of tests.

<P>
To achieve this, PyUnit supports some important concepts:

<P>
<dl class="definitions">
<dt><b><a id='l2h-1124' xml:id='l2h-1124'>test fixture</a></b></dt>
<dd>
A <i class="dfn">test fixture</i> represents the preparation needed to perform one
or more tests, and any associate cleanup actions.  This may involve,
for example, creating temporary or proxy databases, directories, or
starting a server process.

<P>
<dt><b><a id='l2h-1125' xml:id='l2h-1125'>test case</a></b></dt>
<dd>
A <i class="dfn">test case</i> is the smallest unit of testing.  It checks for a
specific response to a particular set of inputs.  PyUnit provides a
base class, <tt class="class">TestCase</tt>, which may be used to create new test
cases. You may provide your own implementation that does not subclass
from <tt class="class">TestCase</tt>, of course.

<P>
<dt><b><a id='l2h-1126' xml:id='l2h-1126'>test suite</a></b></dt>
<dd>
A <i class="dfn">test suite</i> is a collection of test cases, test suites, or
both.  It is used to aggregate tests that should be executed
together.

<P>
<dt><b><a id='l2h-1127' xml:id='l2h-1127'>test runner</a></b></dt>
<dd>
A <i class="dfn">test runner</i> is a component which orchestrates the execution of
tests and provides the outcome to the user.  The runner may use a
graphical interface, a textual interface, or return a special value to
indicate the results of executing the tests.
</dl>

<P>
The test case and test fixture concepts are supported through the
<tt class="class">TestCase</tt> and <tt class="class">FunctionTestCase</tt> classes; the former
should be used when creating new tests, and the latter can be used when
integrating existing test code with a PyUnit-driven framework.  When
building test fixtures using <tt class="class">TestCase</tt>, the <tt class="method">setUp()</tt>
and <tt class="method">tearDown()</tt> methods can be overridden to provide
initialization and cleanup for the fixture.  With
<tt class="class">FunctionTestCase</tt>, existing functions can be passed to the
constructor for these purposes.  When the test is run, the
fixture initialization is run first; if it succeeds, the cleanup
method is run after the test has been executed, regardless of the
outcome of the test.  Each instance of the <tt class="class">TestCase</tt> will only
be used to run a single test method, so a new fixture is created for
each test.

<P>
Test suites are implemented by the <tt class="class">TestSuite</tt> class.  This
class allows individual tests and test suites to be aggregated; when
the suite is executed, all tests added directly to the suite and in
``child'' test suites are run.

<P>
A test runner is an object that provides a single method,
<tt class="method">run()</tt>, which accepts a <tt class="class">TestCase</tt> or <tt class="class">TestSuite</tt>
object as a parameter, and returns a result object.  The class
<tt class="class">TestResult</tt> is provided for use as the result object.  PyUnit
provide the <tt class="class">TextTestRunner</tt> as an example test runner which
reports test results on the standard error stream by default.
Alternate runners can be implemented for other environments (such as
graphical environments) without any need to derive from a specific
class.

<P>
<div class="seealso">
  <p class="heading">See Also:</p>

  <dl compact="compact" class="seemodule">
    <dt>Module <b><tt class="module"><a href="module-doctest.html">doctest</a></tt>:</b>
    <dd>Another test-support module with a very
                      different flavor.
  </dl>
  <dl compact="compact" class="seetitle">
    <dt><em class="citetitle"><a href="http://pyunit.sourceforge.net/"
        >PyUnit Web Site</a></em></dt>
    <dd>The
            source for further information on PyUnit.</dd>
  </dl>
  <dl compact="compact" class="seetitle">
    <dt><em class="citetitle"><a href="http://www.XProgramming.com/testfram.htm"
        >Simple Smalltalk
            Testing: With Patterns</a></em></dt>
    <dd>Kent Beck's original paper on
            testing frameworks using the pattern shared by
            <tt class="module">unittest</tt>.</dd>
  </dl>
</div>

<P>

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<A NAME="CHILD_LINKS"><STRONG>Subsections</STRONG></a>

<UL CLASS="ChildLinks">
<LI><A href="node164.html">5.3.1 Basic example</a>
<LI><A href="organizing-tests.html">5.3.2 Organizing test code</a>
<LI><A href="legacy-unit-tests.html">5.3.3 Re-using old test code</a>
<LI><A href="unittest-contents.html">5.3.4 Classes and functions</a>
<LI><A href="testcase-objects.html">5.3.5 TestCase Objects</a>
<LI><A href="testsuite-objects.html">5.3.6 TestSuite Objects</a>
<LI><A href="testresult-objects.html">5.3.7 TestResult Objects</a>
<LI><A href="testloader-objects.html">5.3.8 TestLoader Objects</a>
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<span class="release-info">Release 2.4.2, documentation updated on 28 September 2005.</span>
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