1# Advanced GoogleTest Topics
2
3## Introduction
4
5Now that you have read the [GoogleTest Primer](primer.md) and learned how to
6write tests using GoogleTest, it's time to learn some new tricks. This document
7will show you more assertions as well as how to construct complex failure
8messages, propagate fatal failures, reuse and speed up your test fixtures, and
9use various flags with your tests.
10
11## More Assertions
12
13This section covers some less frequently used, but still significant,
14assertions.
15
16### Explicit Success and Failure
17
18See [Explicit Success and Failure](reference/assertions.md#success-failure) in
19the Assertions Reference.
20
21### Exception Assertions
22
23See [Exception Assertions](reference/assertions.md#exceptions) in the Assertions
24Reference.
25
26### Predicate Assertions for Better Error Messages
27
28Even though GoogleTest has a rich set of assertions, they can never be complete,
29as it's impossible (nor a good idea) to anticipate all scenarios a user might
30run into. Therefore, sometimes a user has to use `EXPECT_TRUE()` to check a
31complex expression, for lack of a better macro. This has the problem of not
32showing you the values of the parts of the expression, making it hard to
33understand what went wrong. As a workaround, some users choose to construct the
34failure message by themselves, streaming it into `EXPECT_TRUE()`. However, this
35is awkward especially when the expression has side-effects or is expensive to
36evaluate.
37
38GoogleTest gives you three different options to solve this problem:
39
40#### Using an Existing Boolean Function
41
42If you already have a function or functor that returns `bool` (or a type that
43can be implicitly converted to `bool`), you can use it in a *predicate
44assertion* to get the function arguments printed for free. See
45[`EXPECT_PRED*`](reference/assertions.md#EXPECT_PRED) in the Assertions
46Reference for details.
47
48#### Using a Function That Returns an AssertionResult
49
50While `EXPECT_PRED*()` and friends are handy for a quick job, the syntax is not
51satisfactory: you have to use different macros for different arities, and it
52feels more like Lisp than C++. The `::testing::AssertionResult` class solves
53this problem.
54
55An `AssertionResult` object represents the result of an assertion (whether it's
56a success or a failure, and an associated message). You can create an
57`AssertionResult` using one of these factory functions:
58
59```c++
60namespace testing {
61
62// Returns an AssertionResult object to indicate that an assertion has
63// succeeded.
64AssertionResult AssertionSuccess();
65
66// Returns an AssertionResult object to indicate that an assertion has
67// failed.
68AssertionResult AssertionFailure();
69
70}
71```
72
73You can then use the `<<` operator to stream messages to the `AssertionResult`
74object.
75
76To provide more readable messages in Boolean assertions (e.g. `EXPECT_TRUE()`),
77write a predicate function that returns `AssertionResult` instead of `bool`. For
78example, if you define `IsEven()` as:
79
80```c++
81testing::AssertionResult IsEven(int n) {
82  if ((n % 2) == 0)
83    return testing::AssertionSuccess();
84  else
85    return testing::AssertionFailure() << n << " is odd";
86}
87```
88
89instead of:
90
91```c++
92bool IsEven(int n) {
93  return (n % 2) == 0;
94}
95```
96
97the failed assertion `EXPECT_TRUE(IsEven(Fib(4)))` will print:
98
99```none
100Value of: IsEven(Fib(4))
101  Actual: false (3 is odd)
102Expected: true
103```
104
105instead of a more opaque
106
107```none
108Value of: IsEven(Fib(4))
109  Actual: false
110Expected: true
111```
112
113If you want informative messages in `EXPECT_FALSE` and `ASSERT_FALSE` as well
114(one third of Boolean assertions in the Google code base are negative ones), and
115are fine with making the predicate slower in the success case, you can supply a
116success message:
117
118```c++
119testing::AssertionResult IsEven(int n) {
120  if ((n % 2) == 0)
121    return testing::AssertionSuccess() << n << " is even";
122  else
123    return testing::AssertionFailure() << n << " is odd";
124}
125```
126
127Then the statement `EXPECT_FALSE(IsEven(Fib(6)))` will print
128
129```none
130  Value of: IsEven(Fib(6))
131     Actual: true (8 is even)
132  Expected: false
133```
134
135#### Using a Predicate-Formatter
136
137If you find the default message generated by
138[`EXPECT_PRED*`](reference/assertions.md#EXPECT_PRED) and
139[`EXPECT_TRUE`](reference/assertions.md#EXPECT_TRUE) unsatisfactory, or some
140arguments to your predicate do not support streaming to `ostream`, you can
141instead use *predicate-formatter assertions* to *fully* customize how the
142message is formatted. See
143[`EXPECT_PRED_FORMAT*`](reference/assertions.md#EXPECT_PRED_FORMAT) in the
144Assertions Reference for details.
145
146### Floating-Point Comparison
147
148See [Floating-Point Comparison](reference/assertions.md#floating-point) in the
149Assertions Reference.
150
151#### Floating-Point Predicate-Format Functions
152
153Some floating-point operations are useful, but not that often used. In order to
154avoid an explosion of new macros, we provide them as predicate-format functions
155that can be used in the predicate assertion macro
156[`EXPECT_PRED_FORMAT2`](reference/assertions.md#EXPECT_PRED_FORMAT), for
157example:
158
159```c++
160using ::testing::FloatLE;
161using ::testing::DoubleLE;
162...
163EXPECT_PRED_FORMAT2(FloatLE, val1, val2);
164EXPECT_PRED_FORMAT2(DoubleLE, val1, val2);
165```
166
167The above code verifies that `val1` is less than, or approximately equal to,
168`val2`.
169
170### Asserting Using gMock Matchers
171
172See [`EXPECT_THAT`](reference/assertions.md#EXPECT_THAT) in the Assertions
173Reference.
174
175### More String Assertions
176
177(Please read the [previous](#asserting-using-gmock-matchers) section first if
178you haven't.)
179
180You can use the gMock [string matchers](reference/matchers.md#string-matchers)
181with [`EXPECT_THAT`](reference/assertions.md#EXPECT_THAT) to do more string
182comparison tricks (sub-string, prefix, suffix, regular expression, and etc). For
183example,
184
185```c++
186using ::testing::HasSubstr;
187using ::testing::MatchesRegex;
188...
189  ASSERT_THAT(foo_string, HasSubstr("needle"));
190  EXPECT_THAT(bar_string, MatchesRegex("\\w*\\d+"));
191```
192
193### Windows HRESULT assertions
194
195See [Windows HRESULT Assertions](reference/assertions.md#HRESULT) in the
196Assertions Reference.
197
198### Type Assertions
199
200You can call the function
201
202```c++
203::testing::StaticAssertTypeEq<T1, T2>();
204```
205
206to assert that types `T1` and `T2` are the same. The function does nothing if
207the assertion is satisfied. If the types are different, the function call will
208fail to compile, the compiler error message will say that `T1 and T2 are not the
209same type` and most likely (depending on the compiler) show you the actual
210values of `T1` and `T2`. This is mainly useful inside template code.
211
212**Caveat**: When used inside a member function of a class template or a function
213template, `StaticAssertTypeEq<T1, T2>()` is effective only if the function is
214instantiated. For example, given:
215
216```c++
217template <typename T> class Foo {
218 public:
219  void Bar() { testing::StaticAssertTypeEq<int, T>(); }
220};
221```
222
223the code:
224
225```c++
226void Test1() { Foo<bool> foo; }
227```
228
229will not generate a compiler error, as `Foo<bool>::Bar()` is never actually
230instantiated. Instead, you need:
231
232```c++
233void Test2() { Foo<bool> foo; foo.Bar(); }
234```
235
236to cause a compiler error.
237
238### Assertion Placement
239
240You can use assertions in any C++ function. In particular, it doesn't have to be
241a method of the test fixture class. The one constraint is that assertions that
242generate a fatal failure (`FAIL*` and `ASSERT_*`) can only be used in
243void-returning functions. This is a consequence of Google's not using
244exceptions. By placing it in a non-void function you'll get a confusing compile
245error like `"error: void value not ignored as it ought to be"` or `"cannot
246initialize return object of type 'bool' with an rvalue of type 'void'"` or
247`"error: no viable conversion from 'void' to 'string'"`.
248
249If you need to use fatal assertions in a function that returns non-void, one
250option is to make the function return the value in an out parameter instead. For
251example, you can rewrite `T2 Foo(T1 x)` to `void Foo(T1 x, T2* result)`. You
252need to make sure that `*result` contains some sensible value even when the
253function returns prematurely. As the function now returns `void`, you can use
254any assertion inside of it.
255
256If changing the function's type is not an option, you should just use assertions
257that generate non-fatal failures, such as `ADD_FAILURE*` and `EXPECT_*`.
258
259{: .callout .note}
260NOTE: Constructors and destructors are not considered void-returning functions,
261according to the C++ language specification, and so you may not use fatal
262assertions in them; you'll get a compilation error if you try. Instead, either
263call `abort` and crash the entire test executable, or put the fatal assertion in
264a `SetUp`/`TearDown` function; see
265[constructor/destructor vs. `SetUp`/`TearDown`](faq.md#CtorVsSetUp)
266
267{: .callout .warning}
268WARNING: A fatal assertion in a helper function (private void-returning method)
269called from a constructor or destructor does not terminate the current test, as
270your intuition might suggest: it merely returns from the constructor or
271destructor early, possibly leaving your object in a partially-constructed or
272partially-destructed state! You almost certainly want to `abort` or use
273`SetUp`/`TearDown` instead.
274
275## Skipping test execution
276
277Related to the assertions `SUCCEED()` and `FAIL()`, you can prevent further test
278execution at runtime with the `GTEST_SKIP()` macro. This is useful when you need
279to check for preconditions of the system under test during runtime and skip
280tests in a meaningful way.
281
282`GTEST_SKIP()` can be used in individual test cases or in the `SetUp()` methods
283of classes derived from either `::testing::Environment` or `::testing::Test`.
284For example:
285
286```c++
287TEST(SkipTest, DoesSkip) {
288  GTEST_SKIP() << "Skipping single test";
289  EXPECT_EQ(0, 1);  // Won't fail; it won't be executed
290}
291
292class SkipFixture : public ::testing::Test {
293 protected:
294  void SetUp() override {
295    GTEST_SKIP() << "Skipping all tests for this fixture";
296  }
297};
298
299// Tests for SkipFixture won't be executed.
300TEST_F(SkipFixture, SkipsOneTest) {
301  EXPECT_EQ(5, 7);  // Won't fail
302}
303```
304
305As with assertion macros, you can stream a custom message into `GTEST_SKIP()`.
306
307## Teaching GoogleTest How to Print Your Values
308
309When a test assertion such as `EXPECT_EQ` fails, GoogleTest prints the argument
310values to help you debug. It does this using a user-extensible value printer.
311
312This printer knows how to print built-in C++ types, native arrays, STL
313containers, and any type that supports the `<<` operator. For other types, it
314prints the raw bytes in the value and hopes that you the user can figure it out.
315
316As mentioned earlier, the printer is *extensible*. That means you can teach it
317to do a better job at printing your particular type than to dump the bytes. To
318do that, define an `AbslStringify()` overload as a `friend` function template
319for your type:
320
321```cpp
322namespace foo {
323
324class Point {  // We want GoogleTest to be able to print instances of this.
325  ...
326  // Provide a friend overload.
327  template <typename Sink>
328  friend void AbslStringify(Sink& sink, const Point& point) {
329    absl::Format(&sink, "(%d, %d)", point.x, point.y);
330  }
331
332  int x;
333  int y;
334};
335
336// If you can't declare the function in the class it's important that the
337// AbslStringify overload is defined in the SAME namespace that defines Point.
338// C++'s look-up rules rely on that.
339enum class EnumWithStringify { kMany = 0, kChoices = 1 };
340
341template <typename Sink>
342void AbslStringify(Sink& sink, EnumWithStringify e) {
343  absl::Format(&sink, "%s", e == EnumWithStringify::kMany ? "Many" : "Choices");
344}
345
346}  // namespace foo
347```
348
349{: .callout .note}
350Note: `AbslStringify()` utilizes a generic "sink" buffer to construct its
351string. For more information about supported operations on `AbslStringify()`'s
352sink, see go/abslstringify.
353
354`AbslStringify()` can also use `absl::StrFormat`'s catch-all `%v` type specifier
355within its own format strings to perform type deduction. `Point` above could be
356formatted as `"(%v, %v)"` for example, and deduce the `int` values as `%d`.
357
358Sometimes, `AbslStringify()` might not be an option: your team may wish to print
359types with extra debugging information for testing purposes only. If so, you can
360instead define a `PrintTo()` function like this:
361
362```c++
363#include <ostream>
364
365namespace foo {
366
367class Point {
368  ...
369  friend void PrintTo(const Point& point, std::ostream* os) {
370    *os << "(" << point.x << "," << point.y << ")";
371  }
372
373  int x;
374  int y;
375};
376
377// If you can't declare the function in the class it's important that PrintTo()
378// is defined in the SAME namespace that defines Point.  C++'s look-up rules
379// rely on that.
380void PrintTo(const Point& point, std::ostream* os) {
381    *os << "(" << point.x << "," << point.y << ")";
382}
383
384}  // namespace foo
385```
386
387If you have defined both `AbslStringify()` and `PrintTo()`, the latter will be
388used by GoogleTest. This allows you to customize how the value appears in
389GoogleTest's output without affecting code that relies on the behavior of
390`AbslStringify()`.
391
392If you have an existing `<<` operator and would like to define an
393`AbslStringify()`, the latter will be used for GoogleTest printing.
394
395If you want to print a value `x` using GoogleTest's value printer yourself, just
396call `::testing::PrintToString(x)`, which returns an `std::string`:
397
398```c++
399vector<pair<Point, int> > point_ints = GetPointIntVector();
400
401EXPECT_TRUE(IsCorrectPointIntVector(point_ints))
402    << "point_ints = " << testing::PrintToString(point_ints);
403```
404
405For more details regarding `AbslStringify()` and its integration with other
406libraries, see go/abslstringify.
407
408## Death Tests
409
410In many applications, there are assertions that can cause application failure if
411a condition is not met. These consistency checks, which ensure that the program
412is in a known good state, are there to fail at the earliest possible time after
413some program state is corrupted. If the assertion checks the wrong condition,
414then the program may proceed in an erroneous state, which could lead to memory
415corruption, security holes, or worse. Hence it is vitally important to test that
416such assertion statements work as expected.
417
418Since these precondition checks cause the processes to die, we call such tests
419_death tests_. More generally, any test that checks that a program terminates
420(except by throwing an exception) in an expected fashion is also a death test.
421
422Note that if a piece of code throws an exception, we don't consider it "death"
423for the purpose of death tests, as the caller of the code could catch the
424exception and avoid the crash. If you want to verify exceptions thrown by your
425code, see [Exception Assertions](#ExceptionAssertions).
426
427If you want to test `EXPECT_*()/ASSERT_*()` failures in your test code, see
428["Catching" Failures](#catching-failures).
429
430### How to Write a Death Test
431
432GoogleTest provides assertion macros to support death tests. See
433[Death Assertions](reference/assertions.md#death) in the Assertions Reference
434for details.
435
436To write a death test, simply use one of the macros inside your test function.
437For example,
438
439```c++
440TEST(MyDeathTest, Foo) {
441  // This death test uses a compound statement.
442  ASSERT_DEATH({
443    int n = 5;
444    Foo(&n);
445  }, "Error on line .* of Foo()");
446}
447
448TEST(MyDeathTest, NormalExit) {
449  EXPECT_EXIT(NormalExit(), testing::ExitedWithCode(0), "Success");
450}
451
452TEST(MyDeathTest, KillProcess) {
453  EXPECT_EXIT(KillProcess(), testing::KilledBySignal(SIGKILL),
454              "Sending myself unblockable signal");
455}
456```
457
458verifies that:
459
460*   calling `Foo(5)` causes the process to die with the given error message,
461*   calling `NormalExit()` causes the process to print `"Success"` to stderr and
462    exit with exit code 0, and
463*   calling `KillProcess()` kills the process with signal `SIGKILL`.
464
465The test function body may contain other assertions and statements as well, if
466necessary.
467
468Note that a death test only cares about three things:
469
4701.  does `statement` abort or exit the process?
4712.  (in the case of `ASSERT_EXIT` and `EXPECT_EXIT`) does the exit status
472    satisfy `predicate`? Or (in the case of `ASSERT_DEATH` and `EXPECT_DEATH`)
473    is the exit status non-zero? And
4743.  does the stderr output match `matcher`?
475
476In particular, if `statement` generates an `ASSERT_*` or `EXPECT_*` failure, it
477will **not** cause the death test to fail, as GoogleTest assertions don't abort
478the process.
479
480### Death Test Naming
481
482{: .callout .important}
483IMPORTANT: We strongly recommend you to follow the convention of naming your
484**test suite** (not test) `*DeathTest` when it contains a death test, as
485demonstrated in the above example. The
486[Death Tests And Threads](#death-tests-and-threads) section below explains why.
487
488If a test fixture class is shared by normal tests and death tests, you can use
489`using` or `typedef` to introduce an alias for the fixture class and avoid
490duplicating its code:
491
492```c++
493class FooTest : public testing::Test { ... };
494
495using FooDeathTest = FooTest;
496
497TEST_F(FooTest, DoesThis) {
498  // normal test
499}
500
501TEST_F(FooDeathTest, DoesThat) {
502  // death test
503}
504```
505
506### Regular Expression Syntax
507
508When built with Bazel and using Abseil, GoogleTest uses the
509[RE2](https://github.com/google/re2/wiki/Syntax) syntax. Otherwise, for POSIX
510systems (Linux, Cygwin, Mac), GoogleTest uses the
511[POSIX extended regular expression](http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/basedefs/xbd_chap09.html#tag_09_04)
512syntax. To learn about POSIX syntax, you may want to read this
513[Wikipedia entry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expression#POSIX_extended).
514
515On Windows, GoogleTest uses its own simple regular expression implementation. It
516lacks many features. For example, we don't support union (`"x|y"`), grouping
517(`"(xy)"`), brackets (`"[xy]"`), and repetition count (`"x{5,7}"`), among
518others. Below is what we do support (`A` denotes a literal character, period
519(`.`), or a single `\\ ` escape sequence; `x` and `y` denote regular
520expressions.):
521
522Expression | Meaning
523---------- | --------------------------------------------------------------
524`c`        | matches any literal character `c`
525`\\d`      | matches any decimal digit
526`\\D`      | matches any character that's not a decimal digit
527`\\f`      | matches `\f`
528`\\n`      | matches `\n`
529`\\r`      | matches `\r`
530`\\s`      | matches any ASCII whitespace, including `\n`
531`\\S`      | matches any character that's not a whitespace
532`\\t`      | matches `\t`
533`\\v`      | matches `\v`
534`\\w`      | matches any letter, `_`, or decimal digit
535`\\W`      | matches any character that `\\w` doesn't match
536`\\c`      | matches any literal character `c`, which must be a punctuation
537`.`        | matches any single character except `\n`
538`A?`       | matches 0 or 1 occurrences of `A`
539`A*`       | matches 0 or many occurrences of `A`
540`A+`       | matches 1 or many occurrences of `A`
541`^`        | matches the beginning of a string (not that of each line)
542`$`        | matches the end of a string (not that of each line)
543`xy`       | matches `x` followed by `y`
544
545To help you determine which capability is available on your system, GoogleTest
546defines macros to govern which regular expression it is using. The macros are:
547`GTEST_USES_SIMPLE_RE=1` or `GTEST_USES_POSIX_RE=1`. If you want your death
548tests to work in all cases, you can either `#if` on these macros or use the more
549limited syntax only.
550
551### How It Works
552
553See [Death Assertions](reference/assertions.md#death) in the Assertions
554Reference.
555
556### Death Tests And Threads
557
558The reason for the two death test styles has to do with thread safety. Due to
559well-known problems with forking in the presence of threads, death tests should
560be run in a single-threaded context. Sometimes, however, it isn't feasible to
561arrange that kind of environment. For example, statically-initialized modules
562may start threads before main is ever reached. Once threads have been created,
563it may be difficult or impossible to clean them up.
564
565GoogleTest has three features intended to raise awareness of threading issues.
566
5671.  A warning is emitted if multiple threads are running when a death test is
568    encountered.
5692.  Test suites with a name ending in "DeathTest" are run before all other
570    tests.
5713.  It uses `clone()` instead of `fork()` to spawn the child process on Linux
572    (`clone()` is not available on Cygwin and Mac), as `fork()` is more likely
573    to cause the child to hang when the parent process has multiple threads.
574
575It's perfectly fine to create threads inside a death test statement; they are
576executed in a separate process and cannot affect the parent.
577
578### Death Test Styles
579
580The "threadsafe" death test style was introduced in order to help mitigate the
581risks of testing in a possibly multithreaded environment. It trades increased
582test execution time (potentially dramatically so) for improved thread safety.
583
584The automated testing framework does not set the style flag. You can choose a
585particular style of death tests by setting the flag programmatically:
586
587```c++
588GTEST_FLAG_SET(death_test_style, "threadsafe");
589```
590
591You can do this in `main()` to set the style for all death tests in the binary,
592or in individual tests. Recall that flags are saved before running each test and
593restored afterwards, so you need not do that yourself. For example:
594
595```c++
596int main(int argc, char** argv) {
597  testing::InitGoogleTest(&argc, argv);
598  GTEST_FLAG_SET(death_test_style, "fast");
599  return RUN_ALL_TESTS();
600}
601
602TEST(MyDeathTest, TestOne) {
603  GTEST_FLAG_SET(death_test_style, "threadsafe");
604  // This test is run in the "threadsafe" style:
605  ASSERT_DEATH(ThisShouldDie(), "");
606}
607
608TEST(MyDeathTest, TestTwo) {
609  // This test is run in the "fast" style:
610  ASSERT_DEATH(ThisShouldDie(), "");
611}
612```
613
614### Caveats
615
616The `statement` argument of `ASSERT_EXIT()` can be any valid C++ statement. If
617it leaves the current function via a `return` statement or by throwing an
618exception, the death test is considered to have failed. Some GoogleTest macros
619may return from the current function (e.g. `ASSERT_TRUE()`), so be sure to avoid
620them in `statement`.
621
622Since `statement` runs in the child process, any in-memory side effect (e.g.
623modifying a variable, releasing memory, etc) it causes will *not* be observable
624in the parent process. In particular, if you release memory in a death test,
625your program will fail the heap check as the parent process will never see the
626memory reclaimed. To solve this problem, you can
627
6281.  try not to free memory in a death test;
6292.  free the memory again in the parent process; or
6303.  do not use the heap checker in your program.
631
632Due to an implementation detail, you cannot place multiple death test assertions
633on the same line; otherwise, compilation will fail with an unobvious error
634message.
635
636Despite the improved thread safety afforded by the "threadsafe" style of death
637test, thread problems such as deadlock are still possible in the presence of
638handlers registered with `pthread_atfork(3)`.
639
640## Using Assertions in Sub-routines
641
642{: .callout .note}
643Note: If you want to put a series of test assertions in a subroutine to check
644for a complex condition, consider using
645[a custom GMock matcher](gmock_cook_book.md#NewMatchers) instead. This lets you
646provide a more readable error message in case of failure and avoid all of the
647issues described below.
648
649### Adding Traces to Assertions
650
651If a test sub-routine is called from several places, when an assertion inside it
652fails, it can be hard to tell which invocation of the sub-routine the failure is
653from. You can alleviate this problem using extra logging or custom failure
654messages, but that usually clutters up your tests. A better solution is to use
655the `SCOPED_TRACE` macro or the `ScopedTrace` utility:
656
657```c++
658SCOPED_TRACE(message);
659```
660
661```c++
662ScopedTrace trace("file_path", line_number, message);
663```
664
665where `message` can be anything streamable to `std::ostream`. `SCOPED_TRACE`
666macro will cause the current file name, line number, and the given message to be
667added in every failure message. `ScopedTrace` accepts explicit file name and
668line number in arguments, which is useful for writing test helpers. The effect
669will be undone when the control leaves the current lexical scope.
670
671For example,
672
673```c++
67410: void Sub1(int n) {
67511:   EXPECT_EQ(Bar(n), 1);
67612:   EXPECT_EQ(Bar(n + 1), 2);
67713: }
67814:
67915: TEST(FooTest, Bar) {
68016:   {
68117:     SCOPED_TRACE("A");  // This trace point will be included in
68218:                         // every failure in this scope.
68319:     Sub1(1);
68420:   }
68521:   // Now it won't.
68622:   Sub1(9);
68723: }
688```
689
690could result in messages like these:
691
692```none
693path/to/foo_test.cc:11: Failure
694Value of: Bar(n)
695Expected: 1
696  Actual: 2
697Google Test trace:
698path/to/foo_test.cc:17: A
699
700path/to/foo_test.cc:12: Failure
701Value of: Bar(n + 1)
702Expected: 2
703  Actual: 3
704```
705
706Without the trace, it would've been difficult to know which invocation of
707`Sub1()` the two failures come from respectively. (You could add an extra
708message to each assertion in `Sub1()` to indicate the value of `n`, but that's
709tedious.)
710
711Some tips on using `SCOPED_TRACE`:
712
7131.  With a suitable message, it's often enough to use `SCOPED_TRACE` at the
714    beginning of a sub-routine, instead of at each call site.
7152.  When calling sub-routines inside a loop, make the loop iterator part of the
716    message in `SCOPED_TRACE` such that you can know which iteration the failure
717    is from.
7183.  Sometimes the line number of the trace point is enough for identifying the
719    particular invocation of a sub-routine. In this case, you don't have to
720    choose a unique message for `SCOPED_TRACE`. You can simply use `""`.
7214.  You can use `SCOPED_TRACE` in an inner scope when there is one in the outer
722    scope. In this case, all active trace points will be included in the failure
723    messages, in reverse order they are encountered.
7245.  The trace dump is clickable in Emacs - hit `return` on a line number and
725    you'll be taken to that line in the source file!
726
727### Propagating Fatal Failures
728
729A common pitfall when using `ASSERT_*` and `FAIL*` is not understanding that
730when they fail they only abort the _current function_, not the entire test. For
731example, the following test will segfault:
732
733```c++
734void Subroutine() {
735  // Generates a fatal failure and aborts the current function.
736  ASSERT_EQ(1, 2);
737
738  // The following won't be executed.
739  ...
740}
741
742TEST(FooTest, Bar) {
743  Subroutine();  // The intended behavior is for the fatal failure
744                 // in Subroutine() to abort the entire test.
745
746  // The actual behavior: the function goes on after Subroutine() returns.
747  int* p = nullptr;
748  *p = 3;  // Segfault!
749}
750```
751
752To alleviate this, GoogleTest provides three different solutions. You could use
753either exceptions, the `(ASSERT|EXPECT)_NO_FATAL_FAILURE` assertions or the
754`HasFatalFailure()` function. They are described in the following two
755subsections.
756
757#### Asserting on Subroutines with an exception
758
759The following code can turn ASSERT-failure into an exception:
760
761```c++
762class ThrowListener : public testing::EmptyTestEventListener {
763  void OnTestPartResult(const testing::TestPartResult& result) override {
764    if (result.type() == testing::TestPartResult::kFatalFailure) {
765      throw testing::AssertionException(result);
766    }
767  }
768};
769int main(int argc, char** argv) {
770  ...
771  testing::UnitTest::GetInstance()->listeners().Append(new ThrowListener);
772  return RUN_ALL_TESTS();
773}
774```
775
776This listener should be added after other listeners if you have any, otherwise
777they won't see failed `OnTestPartResult`.
778
779#### Asserting on Subroutines
780
781As shown above, if your test calls a subroutine that has an `ASSERT_*` failure
782in it, the test will continue after the subroutine returns. This may not be what
783you want.
784
785Often people want fatal failures to propagate like exceptions. For that
786GoogleTest offers the following macros:
787
788Fatal assertion                       | Nonfatal assertion                    | Verifies
789------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------- | --------
790`ASSERT_NO_FATAL_FAILURE(statement);` | `EXPECT_NO_FATAL_FAILURE(statement);` | `statement` doesn't generate any new fatal failures in the current thread.
791
792Only failures in the thread that executes the assertion are checked to determine
793the result of this type of assertions. If `statement` creates new threads,
794failures in these threads are ignored.
795
796Examples:
797
798```c++
799ASSERT_NO_FATAL_FAILURE(Foo());
800
801int i;
802EXPECT_NO_FATAL_FAILURE({
803  i = Bar();
804});
805```
806
807Assertions from multiple threads are currently not supported on Windows.
808
809#### Checking for Failures in the Current Test
810
811`HasFatalFailure()` in the `::testing::Test` class returns `true` if an
812assertion in the current test has suffered a fatal failure. This allows
813functions to catch fatal failures in a sub-routine and return early.
814
815```c++
816class Test {
817 public:
818  ...
819  static bool HasFatalFailure();
820};
821```
822
823The typical usage, which basically simulates the behavior of a thrown exception,
824is:
825
826```c++
827TEST(FooTest, Bar) {
828  Subroutine();
829  // Aborts if Subroutine() had a fatal failure.
830  if (HasFatalFailure()) return;
831
832  // The following won't be executed.
833  ...
834}
835```
836
837If `HasFatalFailure()` is used outside of `TEST()` , `TEST_F()` , or a test
838fixture, you must add the `::testing::Test::` prefix, as in:
839
840```c++
841if (testing::Test::HasFatalFailure()) return;
842```
843
844Similarly, `HasNonfatalFailure()` returns `true` if the current test has at
845least one non-fatal failure, and `HasFailure()` returns `true` if the current
846test has at least one failure of either kind.
847
848## Logging Additional Information
849
850In your test code, you can call `RecordProperty("key", value)` to log additional
851information, where `value` can be either a string or an `int`. The *last* value
852recorded for a key will be emitted to the
853[XML output](#generating-an-xml-report) if you specify one. For example, the
854test
855
856```c++
857TEST_F(WidgetUsageTest, MinAndMaxWidgets) {
858  RecordProperty("MaximumWidgets", ComputeMaxUsage());
859  RecordProperty("MinimumWidgets", ComputeMinUsage());
860}
861```
862
863will output XML like this:
864
865```xml
866  ...
867    <testcase name="MinAndMaxWidgets" file="test.cpp" line="1" status="run" time="0.006" classname="WidgetUsageTest" MaximumWidgets="12" MinimumWidgets="9" />
868  ...
869```
870
871{: .callout .note}
872> NOTE:
873>
874> *   `RecordProperty()` is a static member of the `Test` class. Therefore it
875>     needs to be prefixed with `::testing::Test::` if used outside of the
876>     `TEST` body and the test fixture class.
877> *   *`key`* must be a valid XML attribute name, and cannot conflict with the
878>     ones already used by GoogleTest (`name`, `status`, `time`, `classname`,
879>     `type_param`, and `value_param`).
880> *   Calling `RecordProperty()` outside of the lifespan of a test is allowed.
881>     If it's called outside of a test but between a test suite's
882>     `SetUpTestSuite()` and `TearDownTestSuite()` methods, it will be
883>     attributed to the XML element for the test suite. If it's called outside
884>     of all test suites (e.g. in a test environment), it will be attributed to
885>     the top-level XML element.
886
887## Sharing Resources Between Tests in the Same Test Suite
888
889GoogleTest creates a new test fixture object for each test in order to make
890tests independent and easier to debug. However, sometimes tests use resources
891that are expensive to set up, making the one-copy-per-test model prohibitively
892expensive.
893
894If the tests don't change the resource, there's no harm in their sharing a
895single resource copy. So, in addition to per-test set-up/tear-down, GoogleTest
896also supports per-test-suite set-up/tear-down. To use it:
897
8981.  In your test fixture class (say `FooTest` ), declare as `static` some member
899    variables to hold the shared resources.
9002.  Outside your test fixture class (typically just below it), define those
901    member variables, optionally giving them initial values.
9023.  In the same test fixture class, define a `static void SetUpTestSuite()`
903    function (remember not to spell it as **`SetupTestSuite`** with a small
904    `u`!) to set up the shared resources and a `static void TearDownTestSuite()`
905    function to tear them down.
906
907That's it! GoogleTest automatically calls `SetUpTestSuite()` before running the
908*first test* in the `FooTest` test suite (i.e. before creating the first
909`FooTest` object), and calls `TearDownTestSuite()` after running the *last test*
910in it (i.e. after deleting the last `FooTest` object). In between, the tests can
911use the shared resources.
912
913Remember that the test order is undefined, so your code can't depend on a test
914preceding or following another. Also, the tests must either not modify the state
915of any shared resource, or, if they do modify the state, they must restore the
916state to its original value before passing control to the next test.
917
918Note that `SetUpTestSuite()` may be called multiple times for a test fixture
919class that has derived classes, so you should not expect code in the function
920body to be run only once. Also, derived classes still have access to shared
921resources defined as static members, so careful consideration is needed when
922managing shared resources to avoid memory leaks if shared resources are not
923properly cleaned up in `TearDownTestSuite()`.
924
925Here's an example of per-test-suite set-up and tear-down:
926
927```c++
928class FooTest : public testing::Test {
929 protected:
930  // Per-test-suite set-up.
931  // Called before the first test in this test suite.
932  // Can be omitted if not needed.
933  static void SetUpTestSuite() {
934    shared_resource_ = new ...;
935
936    // If `shared_resource_` is **not deleted** in `TearDownTestSuite()`,
937    // reallocation should be prevented because `SetUpTestSuite()` may be called
938    // in subclasses of FooTest and lead to memory leak.
939    //
940    // if (shared_resource_ == nullptr) {
941    //   shared_resource_ = new ...;
942    // }
943  }
944
945  // Per-test-suite tear-down.
946  // Called after the last test in this test suite.
947  // Can be omitted if not needed.
948  static void TearDownTestSuite() {
949    delete shared_resource_;
950    shared_resource_ = nullptr;
951  }
952
953  // You can define per-test set-up logic as usual.
954  void SetUp() override { ... }
955
956  // You can define per-test tear-down logic as usual.
957  void TearDown() override { ... }
958
959  // Some expensive resource shared by all tests.
960  static T* shared_resource_;
961};
962
963T* FooTest::shared_resource_ = nullptr;
964
965TEST_F(FooTest, Test1) {
966  ... you can refer to shared_resource_ here ...
967}
968
969TEST_F(FooTest, Test2) {
970  ... you can refer to shared_resource_ here ...
971}
972```
973
974{: .callout .note}
975NOTE: Though the above code declares `SetUpTestSuite()` protected, it may
976sometimes be necessary to declare it public, such as when using it with
977`TEST_P`.
978
979## Global Set-Up and Tear-Down
980
981Just as you can do set-up and tear-down at the test level and the test suite
982level, you can also do it at the test program level. Here's how.
983
984First, you subclass the `::testing::Environment` class to define a test
985environment, which knows how to set-up and tear-down:
986
987```c++
988class Environment : public ::testing::Environment {
989 public:
990  ~Environment() override {}
991
992  // Override this to define how to set up the environment.
993  void SetUp() override {}
994
995  // Override this to define how to tear down the environment.
996  void TearDown() override {}
997};
998```
999
1000Then, you register an instance of your environment class with GoogleTest by
1001calling the `::testing::AddGlobalTestEnvironment()` function:
1002
1003```c++
1004Environment* AddGlobalTestEnvironment(Environment* env);
1005```
1006
1007Now, when `RUN_ALL_TESTS()` is called, it first calls the `SetUp()` method of
1008each environment object, then runs the tests if none of the environments
1009reported fatal failures and `GTEST_SKIP()` was not called. `RUN_ALL_TESTS()`
1010always calls `TearDown()` with each environment object, regardless of whether or
1011not the tests were run.
1012
1013It's OK to register multiple environment objects. In this suite, their `SetUp()`
1014will be called in the order they are registered, and their `TearDown()` will be
1015called in the reverse order.
1016
1017Note that GoogleTest takes ownership of the registered environment objects.
1018Therefore **do not delete them** by yourself.
1019
1020You should call `AddGlobalTestEnvironment()` before `RUN_ALL_TESTS()` is called,
1021probably in `main()`. If you use `gtest_main`, you need to call this before
1022`main()` starts for it to take effect. One way to do this is to define a global
1023variable like this:
1024
1025```c++
1026testing::Environment* const foo_env =
1027    testing::AddGlobalTestEnvironment(new FooEnvironment);
1028```
1029
1030However, we strongly recommend you to write your own `main()` and call
1031`AddGlobalTestEnvironment()` there, as relying on initialization of global
1032variables makes the code harder to read and may cause problems when you register
1033multiple environments from different translation units and the environments have
1034dependencies among them (remember that the compiler doesn't guarantee the order
1035in which global variables from different translation units are initialized).
1036
1037## Value-Parameterized Tests
1038
1039*Value-parameterized tests* allow you to test your code with different
1040parameters without writing multiple copies of the same test. This is useful in a
1041number of situations, for example:
1042
1043*   You have a piece of code whose behavior is affected by one or more
1044    command-line flags. You want to make sure your code performs correctly for
1045    various values of those flags.
1046*   You want to test different implementations of an OO interface.
1047*   You want to test your code over various inputs (a.k.a. data-driven testing).
1048    This feature is easy to abuse, so please exercise your good sense when doing
1049    it!
1050
1051### How to Write Value-Parameterized Tests
1052
1053To write value-parameterized tests, first you should define a fixture class. It
1054must be derived from both `testing::Test` and `testing::WithParamInterface<T>`
1055(the latter is a pure interface), where `T` is the type of your parameter
1056values. For convenience, you can just derive the fixture class from
1057`testing::TestWithParam<T>`, which itself is derived from both `testing::Test`
1058and `testing::WithParamInterface<T>`. `T` can be any copyable type. If it's a
1059raw pointer, you are responsible for managing the lifespan of the pointed
1060values.
1061
1062{: .callout .note}
1063NOTE: If your test fixture defines `SetUpTestSuite()` or `TearDownTestSuite()`
1064they must be declared **public** rather than **protected** in order to use
1065`TEST_P`.
1066
1067```c++
1068class FooTest :
1069    public testing::TestWithParam<absl::string_view> {
1070  // You can implement all the usual fixture class members here.
1071  // To access the test parameter, call GetParam() from class
1072  // TestWithParam<T>.
1073};
1074
1075// Or, when you want to add parameters to a pre-existing fixture class:
1076class BaseTest : public testing::Test {
1077  ...
1078};
1079class BarTest : public BaseTest,
1080                public testing::WithParamInterface<absl::string_view> {
1081  ...
1082};
1083```
1084
1085Then, use the `TEST_P` macro to define as many test patterns using this fixture
1086as you want. The `_P` suffix is for "parameterized" or "pattern", whichever you
1087prefer to think.
1088
1089```c++
1090TEST_P(FooTest, DoesBlah) {
1091  // Inside a test, access the test parameter with the GetParam() method
1092  // of the TestWithParam<T> class:
1093  EXPECT_TRUE(foo.Blah(GetParam()));
1094  ...
1095}
1096
1097TEST_P(FooTest, HasBlahBlah) {
1098  ...
1099}
1100```
1101
1102Finally, you can use the `INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P` macro to instantiate the
1103test suite with any set of parameters you want. GoogleTest defines a number of
1104functions for generating test parameters���see details at
1105[`INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P`](reference/testing.md#INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P) in
1106the Testing Reference.
1107
1108For example, the following statement will instantiate tests from the `FooTest`
1109test suite each with parameter values `"meeny"`, `"miny"`, and `"moe"` using the
1110[`Values`](reference/testing.md#param-generators) parameter generator:
1111
1112```c++
1113INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P(MeenyMinyMoe,
1114                         FooTest,
1115                         testing::Values("meeny", "miny", "moe"));
1116```
1117
1118{: .callout .note}
1119NOTE: The code above must be placed at global or namespace scope, not at
1120function scope.
1121
1122The first argument to `INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P` is a unique name for the
1123instantiation of the test suite. The next argument is the name of the test
1124pattern, and the last is the
1125[parameter generator](reference/testing.md#param-generators).
1126
1127The parameter generator expression is not evaluated until GoogleTest is
1128initialized (via `InitGoogleTest()`). Any prior initialization done in the
1129`main` function will be accessible from the parameter generator, for example,
1130the results of flag parsing.
1131
1132You can instantiate a test pattern more than once, so to distinguish different
1133instances of the pattern, the instantiation name is added as a prefix to the
1134actual test suite name. Remember to pick unique prefixes for different
1135instantiations. The tests from the instantiation above will have these names:
1136
1137*   `MeenyMinyMoe/FooTest.DoesBlah/0` for `"meeny"`
1138*   `MeenyMinyMoe/FooTest.DoesBlah/1` for `"miny"`
1139*   `MeenyMinyMoe/FooTest.DoesBlah/2` for `"moe"`
1140*   `MeenyMinyMoe/FooTest.HasBlahBlah/0` for `"meeny"`
1141*   `MeenyMinyMoe/FooTest.HasBlahBlah/1` for `"miny"`
1142*   `MeenyMinyMoe/FooTest.HasBlahBlah/2` for `"moe"`
1143
1144You can use these names in [`--gtest_filter`](#running-a-subset-of-the-tests).
1145
1146The following statement will instantiate all tests from `FooTest` again, each
1147with parameter values `"cat"` and `"dog"` using the
1148[`ValuesIn`](reference/testing.md#param-generators) parameter generator:
1149
1150```c++
1151constexpr absl::string_view kPets[] = {"cat", "dog"};
1152INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P(Pets, FooTest, testing::ValuesIn(kPets));
1153```
1154
1155The tests from the instantiation above will have these names:
1156
1157*   `Pets/FooTest.DoesBlah/0` for `"cat"`
1158*   `Pets/FooTest.DoesBlah/1` for `"dog"`
1159*   `Pets/FooTest.HasBlahBlah/0` for `"cat"`
1160*   `Pets/FooTest.HasBlahBlah/1` for `"dog"`
1161
1162Please note that `INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P` will instantiate *all* tests in the
1163given test suite, whether their definitions come before or *after* the
1164`INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P` statement.
1165
1166Additionally, by default, every `TEST_P` without a corresponding
1167`INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P` causes a failing test in test suite
1168`GoogleTestVerification`. If you have a test suite where that omission is not an
1169error, for example it is in a library that may be linked in for other reasons or
1170where the list of test cases is dynamic and may be empty, then this check can be
1171suppressed by tagging the test suite:
1172
1173```c++
1174GTEST_ALLOW_UNINSTANTIATED_PARAMETERIZED_TEST(FooTest);
1175```
1176
1177You can see [sample7_unittest.cc] and [sample8_unittest.cc] for more examples.
1178
1179[sample7_unittest.cc]: https://github.com/google/googletest/blob/main/googletest/samples/sample7_unittest.cc "Parameterized Test example"
1180[sample8_unittest.cc]: https://github.com/google/googletest/blob/main/googletest/samples/sample8_unittest.cc "Parameterized Test example with multiple parameters"
1181
1182### Creating Value-Parameterized Abstract Tests
1183
1184In the above, we define and instantiate `FooTest` in the *same* source file.
1185Sometimes you may want to define value-parameterized tests in a library and let
1186other people instantiate them later. This pattern is known as *abstract tests*.
1187As an example of its application, when you are designing an interface you can
1188write a standard suite of abstract tests (perhaps using a factory function as
1189the test parameter) that all implementations of the interface are expected to
1190pass. When someone implements the interface, they can instantiate your suite to
1191get all the interface-conformance tests for free.
1192
1193To define abstract tests, you should organize your code like this:
1194
11951.  Put the definition of the parameterized test fixture class (e.g. `FooTest`)
1196    in a header file, say `foo_param_test.h`. Think of this as *declaring* your
1197    abstract tests.
11982.  Put the `TEST_P` definitions in `foo_param_test.cc`, which includes
1199    `foo_param_test.h`. Think of this as *implementing* your abstract tests.
1200
1201Once they are defined, you can instantiate them by including `foo_param_test.h`,
1202invoking `INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P()`, and depending on the library target that
1203contains `foo_param_test.cc`. You can instantiate the same abstract test suite
1204multiple times, possibly in different source files.
1205
1206### Specifying Names for Value-Parameterized Test Parameters
1207
1208The optional last argument to `INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P()` allows the user to
1209specify a function or functor that generates custom test name suffixes based on
1210the test parameters. The function should accept one argument of type
1211`testing::TestParamInfo<class ParamType>`, and return `std::string`.
1212
1213`testing::PrintToStringParamName` is a builtin test suffix generator that
1214returns the value of `testing::PrintToString(GetParam())`. It does not work for
1215`std::string` or C strings.
1216
1217{: .callout .note}
1218NOTE: test names must be non-empty, unique, and may only contain ASCII
1219alphanumeric characters. In particular, they
1220[should not contain underscores](faq.md#why-should-test-suite-names-and-test-names-not-contain-underscore)
1221
1222```c++
1223class MyTestSuite : public testing::TestWithParam<int> {};
1224
1225TEST_P(MyTestSuite, MyTest)
1226{
1227  std::cout << "Example Test Param: " << GetParam() << std::endl;
1228}
1229
1230INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P(MyGroup, MyTestSuite, testing::Range(0, 10),
1231                         testing::PrintToStringParamName());
1232```
1233
1234Providing a custom functor allows for more control over test parameter name
1235generation, especially for types where the automatic conversion does not
1236generate helpful parameter names (e.g. strings as demonstrated above). The
1237following example illustrates this for multiple parameters, an enumeration type
1238and a string, and also demonstrates how to combine generators. It uses a lambda
1239for conciseness:
1240
1241```c++
1242enum class MyType { MY_FOO = 0, MY_BAR = 1 };
1243
1244class MyTestSuite : public testing::TestWithParam<std::tuple<MyType, std::string>> {
1245};
1246
1247INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P(
1248    MyGroup, MyTestSuite,
1249    testing::Combine(
1250        testing::Values(MyType::MY_FOO, MyType::MY_BAR),
1251        testing::Values("A", "B")),
1252    [](const testing::TestParamInfo<MyTestSuite::ParamType>& info) {
1253      std::string name = absl::StrCat(
1254          std::get<0>(info.param) == MyType::MY_FOO ? "Foo" : "Bar",
1255          std::get<1>(info.param));
1256      absl::c_replace_if(name, [](char c) { return !std::isalnum(c); }, '_');
1257      return name;
1258    });
1259```
1260
1261## Typed Tests
1262
1263Suppose you have multiple implementations of the same interface and want to make
1264sure that all of them satisfy some common requirements. Or, you may have defined
1265several types that are supposed to conform to the same "concept" and you want to
1266verify it. In both cases, you want the same test logic repeated for different
1267types.
1268
1269While you can write one `TEST` or `TEST_F` for each type you want to test (and
1270you may even factor the test logic into a function template that you invoke from
1271the `TEST`), it's tedious and doesn't scale: if you want `m` tests over `n`
1272types, you'll end up writing `m*n` `TEST`s.
1273
1274*Typed tests* allow you to repeat the same test logic over a list of types. You
1275only need to write the test logic once, although you must know the type list
1276when writing typed tests. Here's how you do it:
1277
1278First, define a fixture class template. It should be parameterized by a type.
1279Remember to derive it from `::testing::Test`:
1280
1281```c++
1282template <typename T>
1283class FooTest : public testing::Test {
1284 public:
1285  ...
1286  using List = std::list<T>;
1287  static T shared_;
1288  T value_;
1289};
1290```
1291
1292Next, associate a list of types with the test suite, which will be repeated for
1293each type in the list:
1294
1295```c++
1296using MyTypes = ::testing::Types<char, int, unsigned int>;
1297TYPED_TEST_SUITE(FooTest, MyTypes);
1298```
1299
1300The type alias (`using` or `typedef`) is necessary for the `TYPED_TEST_SUITE`
1301macro to parse correctly. Otherwise the compiler will think that each comma in
1302the type list introduces a new macro argument.
1303
1304Then, use `TYPED_TEST()` instead of `TEST_F()` to define a typed test for this
1305test suite. You can repeat this as many times as you want:
1306
1307```c++
1308TYPED_TEST(FooTest, DoesBlah) {
1309  // Inside a test, refer to the special name TypeParam to get the type
1310  // parameter.  Since we are inside a derived class template, C++ requires
1311  // us to visit the members of FooTest via 'this'.
1312  TypeParam n = this->value_;
1313
1314  // To visit static members of the fixture, add the 'TestFixture::'
1315  // prefix.
1316  n += TestFixture::shared_;
1317
1318  // To refer to typedefs in the fixture, add the 'typename TestFixture::'
1319  // prefix.  The 'typename' is required to satisfy the compiler.
1320  typename TestFixture::List values;
1321
1322  values.push_back(n);
1323  ...
1324}
1325
1326TYPED_TEST(FooTest, HasPropertyA) { ... }
1327```
1328
1329You can see [sample6_unittest.cc] for a complete example.
1330
1331[sample6_unittest.cc]: https://github.com/google/googletest/blob/main/googletest/samples/sample6_unittest.cc "Typed Test example"
1332
1333## Type-Parameterized Tests
1334
1335*Type-parameterized tests* are like typed tests, except that they don't require
1336you to know the list of types ahead of time. Instead, you can define the test
1337logic first and instantiate it with different type lists later. You can even
1338instantiate it more than once in the same program.
1339
1340If you are designing an interface or concept, you can define a suite of
1341type-parameterized tests to verify properties that any valid implementation of
1342the interface/concept should have. Then, the author of each implementation can
1343just instantiate the test suite with their type to verify that it conforms to
1344the requirements, without having to write similar tests repeatedly. Here's an
1345example:
1346
1347First, define a fixture class template, as we did with typed tests:
1348
1349```c++
1350template <typename T>
1351class FooTest : public testing::Test {
1352  void DoSomethingInteresting();
1353  ...
1354};
1355```
1356
1357Next, declare that you will define a type-parameterized test suite:
1358
1359```c++
1360TYPED_TEST_SUITE_P(FooTest);
1361```
1362
1363Then, use `TYPED_TEST_P()` to define a type-parameterized test. You can repeat
1364this as many times as you want:
1365
1366```c++
1367TYPED_TEST_P(FooTest, DoesBlah) {
1368  // Inside a test, refer to TypeParam to get the type parameter.
1369  TypeParam n = 0;
1370
1371  // You will need to use `this` explicitly to refer to fixture members.
1372  this->DoSomethingInteresting()
1373  ...
1374}
1375
1376TYPED_TEST_P(FooTest, HasPropertyA) { ... }
1377```
1378
1379Now the tricky part: you need to register all test patterns using the
1380`REGISTER_TYPED_TEST_SUITE_P` macro before you can instantiate them. The first
1381argument of the macro is the test suite name; the rest are the names of the
1382tests in this test suite:
1383
1384```c++
1385REGISTER_TYPED_TEST_SUITE_P(FooTest,
1386                            DoesBlah, HasPropertyA);
1387```
1388
1389Finally, you are free to instantiate the pattern with the types you want. If you
1390put the above code in a header file, you can `#include` it in multiple C++
1391source files and instantiate it multiple times.
1392
1393```c++
1394using MyTypes = ::testing::Types<char, int, unsigned int>;
1395INSTANTIATE_TYPED_TEST_SUITE_P(My, FooTest, MyTypes);
1396```
1397
1398To distinguish different instances of the pattern, the first argument to the
1399`INSTANTIATE_TYPED_TEST_SUITE_P` macro is a prefix that will be added to the
1400actual test suite name. Remember to pick unique prefixes for different
1401instances.
1402
1403In the special case where the type list contains only one type, you can write
1404that type directly without `::testing::Types<...>`, like this:
1405
1406```c++
1407INSTANTIATE_TYPED_TEST_SUITE_P(My, FooTest, int);
1408```
1409
1410You can see [sample6_unittest.cc] for a complete example.
1411
1412## Testing Private Code
1413
1414If you change your software's internal implementation, your tests should not
1415break as long as the change is not observable by users. Therefore, **per the
1416black-box testing principle, most of the time you should test your code through
1417its public interfaces.**
1418
1419**If you still find yourself needing to test internal implementation code,
1420consider if there's a better design.** The desire to test internal
1421implementation is often a sign that the class is doing too much. Consider
1422extracting an implementation class, and testing it. Then use that implementation
1423class in the original class.
1424
1425If you absolutely have to test non-public interface code though, you can. There
1426are two cases to consider:
1427
1428*   Static functions ( *not* the same as static member functions!) or unnamed
1429    namespaces, and
1430*   Private or protected class members
1431
1432To test them, we use the following special techniques:
1433
1434*   Both static functions and definitions/declarations in an unnamed namespace
1435    are only visible within the same translation unit. To test them, you can
1436    `#include` the entire `.cc` file being tested in your `*_test.cc` file.
1437    (#including `.cc` files is not a good way to reuse code - you should not do
1438    this in production code!)
1439
1440    However, a better approach is to move the private code into the
1441    `foo::internal` namespace, where `foo` is the namespace your project
1442    normally uses, and put the private declarations in a `*-internal.h` file.
1443    Your production `.cc` files and your tests are allowed to include this
1444    internal header, but your clients are not. This way, you can fully test your
1445    internal implementation without leaking it to your clients.
1446
1447*   Private class members are only accessible from within the class or by
1448    friends. To access a class' private members, you can declare your test
1449    fixture as a friend to the class and define accessors in your fixture. Tests
1450    using the fixture can then access the private members of your production
1451    class via the accessors in the fixture. Note that even though your fixture
1452    is a friend to your production class, your tests are not automatically
1453    friends to it, as they are technically defined in sub-classes of the
1454    fixture.
1455
1456    Another way to test private members is to refactor them into an
1457    implementation class, which is then declared in a `*-internal.h` file. Your
1458    clients aren't allowed to include this header but your tests can. Such is
1459    called the
1460    [Pimpl](https://www.gamedev.net/articles/programming/general-and-gameplay-programming/the-c-pimpl-r1794/)
1461    (Private Implementation) idiom.
1462
1463    Or, you can declare an individual test as a friend of your class by adding
1464    this line in the class body:
1465
1466    ```c++
1467        FRIEND_TEST(TestSuiteName, TestName);
1468    ```
1469
1470    For example,
1471
1472    ```c++
1473    // foo.h
1474    class Foo {
1475      ...
1476     private:
1477      FRIEND_TEST(FooTest, BarReturnsZeroOnNull);
1478
1479      int Bar(void* x);
1480    };
1481
1482    // foo_test.cc
1483    ...
1484    TEST(FooTest, BarReturnsZeroOnNull) {
1485      Foo foo;
1486      EXPECT_EQ(foo.Bar(NULL), 0);  // Uses Foo's private member Bar().
1487    }
1488    ```
1489
1490    Pay special attention when your class is defined in a namespace. If you want
1491    your test fixtures and tests to be friends of your class, then they must be
1492    defined in the exact same namespace (no anonymous or inline namespaces).
1493
1494    For example, if the code to be tested looks like:
1495
1496    ```c++
1497    namespace my_namespace {
1498
1499    class Foo {
1500      friend class FooTest;
1501      FRIEND_TEST(FooTest, Bar);
1502      FRIEND_TEST(FooTest, Baz);
1503      ... definition of the class Foo ...
1504    };
1505
1506    }  // namespace my_namespace
1507    ```
1508
1509    Your test code should be something like:
1510
1511    ```c++
1512    namespace my_namespace {
1513
1514    class FooTest : public testing::Test {
1515     protected:
1516      ...
1517    };
1518
1519    TEST_F(FooTest, Bar) { ... }
1520    TEST_F(FooTest, Baz) { ... }
1521
1522    }  // namespace my_namespace
1523    ```
1524
1525## "Catching" Failures
1526
1527If you are building a testing utility on top of GoogleTest, you'll want to test
1528your utility. What framework would you use to test it? GoogleTest, of course.
1529
1530The challenge is to verify that your testing utility reports failures correctly.
1531In frameworks that report a failure by throwing an exception, you could catch
1532the exception and assert on it. But GoogleTest doesn't use exceptions, so how do
1533we test that a piece of code generates an expected failure?
1534
1535`"gtest/gtest-spi.h"` contains some constructs to do this.
1536After #including this header, you can use
1537
1538```c++
1539  EXPECT_FATAL_FAILURE(statement, substring);
1540```
1541
1542to assert that `statement` generates a fatal (e.g. `ASSERT_*`) failure in the
1543current thread whose message contains the given `substring`, or use
1544
1545```c++
1546  EXPECT_NONFATAL_FAILURE(statement, substring);
1547```
1548
1549if you are expecting a non-fatal (e.g. `EXPECT_*`) failure.
1550
1551Only failures in the current thread are checked to determine the result of this
1552type of expectations. If `statement` creates new threads, failures in these
1553threads are also ignored. If you want to catch failures in other threads as
1554well, use one of the following macros instead:
1555
1556```c++
1557  EXPECT_FATAL_FAILURE_ON_ALL_THREADS(statement, substring);
1558  EXPECT_NONFATAL_FAILURE_ON_ALL_THREADS(statement, substring);
1559```
1560
1561{: .callout .note}
1562NOTE: Assertions from multiple threads are currently not supported on Windows.
1563
1564For technical reasons, there are some caveats:
1565
15661.  You cannot stream a failure message to either macro.
1567
15682.  `statement` in `EXPECT_FATAL_FAILURE{_ON_ALL_THREADS}()` cannot reference
1569    local non-static variables or non-static members of `this` object.
1570
15713.  `statement` in `EXPECT_FATAL_FAILURE{_ON_ALL_THREADS}()` cannot return a
1572    value.
1573
1574## Registering tests programmatically
1575
1576The `TEST` macros handle the vast majority of all use cases, but there are few
1577where runtime registration logic is required. For those cases, the framework
1578provides the `::testing::RegisterTest` that allows callers to register arbitrary
1579tests dynamically.
1580
1581This is an advanced API only to be used when the `TEST` macros are insufficient.
1582The macros should be preferred when possible, as they avoid most of the
1583complexity of calling this function.
1584
1585It provides the following signature:
1586
1587```c++
1588template <typename Factory>
1589TestInfo* RegisterTest(const char* test_suite_name, const char* test_name,
1590                       const char* type_param, const char* value_param,
1591                       const char* file, int line, Factory factory);
1592```
1593
1594The `factory` argument is a factory callable (move-constructible) object or
1595function pointer that creates a new instance of the Test object. It handles
1596ownership to the caller. The signature of the callable is `Fixture*()`, where
1597`Fixture` is the test fixture class for the test. All tests registered with the
1598same `test_suite_name` must return the same fixture type. This is checked at
1599runtime.
1600
1601The framework will infer the fixture class from the factory and will call the
1602`SetUpTestSuite` and `TearDownTestSuite` for it.
1603
1604Must be called before `RUN_ALL_TESTS()` is invoked, otherwise behavior is
1605undefined.
1606
1607Use case example:
1608
1609```c++
1610class MyFixture : public testing::Test {
1611 public:
1612  // All of these optional, just like in regular macro usage.
1613  static void SetUpTestSuite() { ... }
1614  static void TearDownTestSuite() { ... }
1615  void SetUp() override { ... }
1616  void TearDown() override { ... }
1617};
1618
1619class MyTest : public MyFixture {
1620 public:
1621  explicit MyTest(int data) : data_(data) {}
1622  void TestBody() override { ... }
1623
1624 private:
1625  int data_;
1626};
1627
1628void RegisterMyTests(const std::vector<int>& values) {
1629  for (int v : values) {
1630    testing::RegisterTest(
1631        "MyFixture", ("Test" + std::to_string(v)).c_str(), nullptr,
1632        std::to_string(v).c_str(),
1633        __FILE__, __LINE__,
1634        // Important to use the fixture type as the return type here.
1635        [=]() -> MyFixture* { return new MyTest(v); });
1636  }
1637}
1638...
1639int main(int argc, char** argv) {
1640  testing::InitGoogleTest(&argc, argv);
1641  std::vector<int> values_to_test = LoadValuesFromConfig();
1642  RegisterMyTests(values_to_test);
1643  ...
1644  return RUN_ALL_TESTS();
1645}
1646```
1647
1648## Getting the Current Test's Name
1649
1650Sometimes a function may need to know the name of the currently running test.
1651For example, you may be using the `SetUp()` method of your test fixture to set
1652the golden file name based on which test is running. The
1653[`TestInfo`](reference/testing.md#TestInfo) class has this information.
1654
1655To obtain a `TestInfo` object for the currently running test, call
1656`current_test_info()` on the [`UnitTest`](reference/testing.md#UnitTest)
1657singleton object:
1658
1659```c++
1660  // Gets information about the currently running test.
1661  // Do NOT delete the returned object - it's managed by the UnitTest class.
1662  const testing::TestInfo* const test_info =
1663      testing::UnitTest::GetInstance()->current_test_info();
1664
1665  printf("We are in test %s of test suite %s.\n",
1666         test_info->name(),
1667         test_info->test_suite_name());
1668```
1669
1670`current_test_info()` returns a null pointer if no test is running. In
1671particular, you cannot find the test suite name in `SetUpTestSuite()`,
1672`TearDownTestSuite()` (where you know the test suite name implicitly), or
1673functions called from them.
1674
1675## Extending GoogleTest by Handling Test Events
1676
1677GoogleTest provides an **event listener API** to let you receive notifications
1678about the progress of a test program and test failures. The events you can
1679listen to include the start and end of the test program, a test suite, or a test
1680method, among others. You may use this API to augment or replace the standard
1681console output, replace the XML output, or provide a completely different form
1682of output, such as a GUI or a database. You can also use test events as
1683checkpoints to implement a resource leak checker, for example.
1684
1685### Defining Event Listeners
1686
1687To define a event listener, you subclass either
1688[`testing::TestEventListener`](reference/testing.md#TestEventListener) or
1689[`testing::EmptyTestEventListener`](reference/testing.md#EmptyTestEventListener)
1690The former is an (abstract) interface, where *each pure virtual method can be
1691overridden to handle a test event* (For example, when a test starts, the
1692`OnTestStart()` method will be called.). The latter provides an empty
1693implementation of all methods in the interface, such that a subclass only needs
1694to override the methods it cares about.
1695
1696When an event is fired, its context is passed to the handler function as an
1697argument. The following argument types are used:
1698
1699*   UnitTest reflects the state of the entire test program,
1700*   TestSuite has information about a test suite, which can contain one or more
1701    tests,
1702*   TestInfo contains the state of a test, and
1703*   TestPartResult represents the result of a test assertion.
1704
1705An event handler function can examine the argument it receives to find out
1706interesting information about the event and the test program's state.
1707
1708Here's an example:
1709
1710```c++
1711  class MinimalistPrinter : public testing::EmptyTestEventListener {
1712    // Called before a test starts.
1713    void OnTestStart(const testing::TestInfo& test_info) override {
1714      printf("*** Test %s.%s starting.\n",
1715             test_info.test_suite_name(), test_info.name());
1716    }
1717
1718    // Called after a failed assertion or a SUCCESS().
1719    void OnTestPartResult(const testing::TestPartResult& test_part_result) override {
1720      printf("%s in %s:%d\n%s\n",
1721             test_part_result.failed() ? "*** Failure" : "Success",
1722             test_part_result.file_name(),
1723             test_part_result.line_number(),
1724             test_part_result.summary());
1725    }
1726
1727    // Called after a test ends.
1728    void OnTestEnd(const testing::TestInfo& test_info) override {
1729      printf("*** Test %s.%s ending.\n",
1730             test_info.test_suite_name(), test_info.name());
1731    }
1732  };
1733```
1734
1735### Using Event Listeners
1736
1737To use the event listener you have defined, add an instance of it to the
1738GoogleTest event listener list (represented by class
1739[`TestEventListeners`](reference/testing.md#TestEventListeners) - note the "s"
1740at the end of the name) in your `main()` function, before calling
1741`RUN_ALL_TESTS()`:
1742
1743```c++
1744int main(int argc, char** argv) {
1745  testing::InitGoogleTest(&argc, argv);
1746  // Gets hold of the event listener list.
1747  testing::TestEventListeners& listeners =
1748      testing::UnitTest::GetInstance()->listeners();
1749  // Adds a listener to the end.  GoogleTest takes the ownership.
1750  listeners.Append(new MinimalistPrinter);
1751  return RUN_ALL_TESTS();
1752}
1753```
1754
1755There's only one problem: the default test result printer is still in effect, so
1756its output will mingle with the output from your minimalist printer. To suppress
1757the default printer, just release it from the event listener list and delete it.
1758You can do so by adding one line:
1759
1760```c++
1761  ...
1762  delete listeners.Release(listeners.default_result_printer());
1763  listeners.Append(new MinimalistPrinter);
1764  return RUN_ALL_TESTS();
1765```
1766
1767Now, sit back and enjoy a completely different output from your tests. For more
1768details, see [sample9_unittest.cc].
1769
1770[sample9_unittest.cc]: https://github.com/google/googletest/blob/main/googletest/samples/sample9_unittest.cc "Event listener example"
1771
1772You may append more than one listener to the list. When an `On*Start()` or
1773`OnTestPartResult()` event is fired, the listeners will receive it in the order
1774they appear in the list (since new listeners are added to the end of the list,
1775the default text printer and the default XML generator will receive the event
1776first). An `On*End()` event will be received by the listeners in the *reverse*
1777order. This allows output by listeners added later to be framed by output from
1778listeners added earlier.
1779
1780### Generating Failures in Listeners
1781
1782You may use failure-raising macros (`EXPECT_*()`, `ASSERT_*()`, `FAIL()`, etc)
1783when processing an event. There are some restrictions:
1784
17851.  You cannot generate any failure in `OnTestPartResult()` (otherwise it will
1786    cause `OnTestPartResult()` to be called recursively).
17872.  A listener that handles `OnTestPartResult()` is not allowed to generate any
1788    failure.
1789
1790When you add listeners to the listener list, you should put listeners that
1791handle `OnTestPartResult()` *before* listeners that can generate failures. This
1792ensures that failures generated by the latter are attributed to the right test
1793by the former.
1794
1795See [sample10_unittest.cc] for an example of a failure-raising listener.
1796
1797[sample10_unittest.cc]: https://github.com/google/googletest/blob/main/googletest/samples/sample10_unittest.cc "Failure-raising listener example"
1798
1799## Running Test Programs: Advanced Options
1800
1801GoogleTest test programs are ordinary executables. Once built, you can run them
1802directly and affect their behavior via the following environment variables
1803and/or command line flags. For the flags to work, your programs must call
1804`::testing::InitGoogleTest()` before calling `RUN_ALL_TESTS()`.
1805
1806To see a list of supported flags and their usage, please run your test program
1807with the `--help` flag. You can also use `-h`, `-?`, or `/?` for short.
1808
1809If an option is specified both by an environment variable and by a flag, the
1810latter takes precedence.
1811
1812### Selecting Tests
1813
1814#### Listing Test Names
1815
1816Sometimes it is necessary to list the available tests in a program before
1817running them so that a filter may be applied if needed. Including the flag
1818`--gtest_list_tests` overrides all other flags and lists tests in the following
1819format:
1820
1821```none
1822TestSuite1.
1823  TestName1
1824  TestName2
1825TestSuite2.
1826  TestName
1827```
1828
1829None of the tests listed are actually run if the flag is provided. There is no
1830corresponding environment variable for this flag.
1831
1832#### Running a Subset of the Tests
1833
1834By default, a GoogleTest program runs all tests the user has defined. Sometimes,
1835you want to run only a subset of the tests (e.g. for debugging or quickly
1836verifying a change). If you set the `GTEST_FILTER` environment variable or the
1837`--gtest_filter` flag to a filter string, GoogleTest will only run the tests
1838whose full names (in the form of `TestSuiteName.TestName`) match the filter.
1839
1840The format of a filter is a '`:`'-separated list of wildcard patterns (called
1841the *positive patterns*) optionally followed by a '`-`' and another
1842'`:`'-separated pattern list (called the *negative patterns*). A test matches
1843the filter if and only if it matches any of the positive patterns but does not
1844match any of the negative patterns.
1845
1846A pattern may contain `'*'` (matches any string) or `'?'` (matches any single
1847character). For convenience, the filter `'*-NegativePatterns'` can be also
1848written as `'-NegativePatterns'`.
1849
1850For example:
1851
1852*   `./foo_test` Has no flag, and thus runs all its tests.
1853*   `./foo_test --gtest_filter=*` Also runs everything, due to the single
1854    match-everything `*` value.
1855*   `./foo_test --gtest_filter=FooTest.*` Runs everything in test suite
1856    `FooTest` .
1857*   `./foo_test --gtest_filter=*Null*:*Constructor*` Runs any test whose full
1858    name contains either `"Null"` or `"Constructor"` .
1859*   `./foo_test --gtest_filter=-*DeathTest.*` Runs all non-death tests.
1860*   `./foo_test --gtest_filter=FooTest.*-FooTest.Bar` Runs everything in test
1861    suite `FooTest` except `FooTest.Bar`.
1862*   `./foo_test --gtest_filter=FooTest.*:BarTest.*-FooTest.Bar:BarTest.Foo` Runs
1863    everything in test suite `FooTest` except `FooTest.Bar` and everything in
1864    test suite `BarTest` except `BarTest.Foo`.
1865
1866#### Stop test execution upon first failure
1867
1868By default, a GoogleTest program runs all tests the user has defined. In some
1869cases (e.g. iterative test development & execution) it may be desirable stop
1870test execution upon first failure (trading improved latency for completeness).
1871If `GTEST_FAIL_FAST` environment variable or `--gtest_fail_fast` flag is set,
1872the test runner will stop execution as soon as the first test failure is found.
1873
1874#### Temporarily Disabling Tests
1875
1876If you have a broken test that you cannot fix right away, you can add the
1877`DISABLED_` prefix to its name. This will exclude it from execution. This is
1878better than commenting out the code or using `#if 0`, as disabled tests are
1879still compiled (and thus won't rot).
1880
1881If you need to disable all tests in a test suite, you can either add `DISABLED_`
1882to the front of the name of each test, or alternatively add it to the front of
1883the test suite name.
1884
1885For example, the following tests won't be run by GoogleTest, even though they
1886will still be compiled:
1887
1888```c++
1889// Tests that Foo does Abc.
1890TEST(FooTest, DISABLED_DoesAbc) { ... }
1891
1892class DISABLED_BarTest : public testing::Test { ... };
1893
1894// Tests that Bar does Xyz.
1895TEST_F(DISABLED_BarTest, DoesXyz) { ... }
1896```
1897
1898{: .callout .note}
1899NOTE: This feature should only be used for temporary pain-relief. You still have
1900to fix the disabled tests at a later date. As a reminder, GoogleTest will print
1901a banner warning you if a test program contains any disabled tests.
1902
1903{: .callout .tip}
1904TIP: You can easily count the number of disabled tests you have using
1905`grep`. This number can be used as a metric for
1906improving your test quality.
1907
1908#### Temporarily Enabling Disabled Tests
1909
1910To include disabled tests in test execution, just invoke the test program with
1911the `--gtest_also_run_disabled_tests` flag or set the
1912`GTEST_ALSO_RUN_DISABLED_TESTS` environment variable to a value other than `0`.
1913You can combine this with the `--gtest_filter` flag to further select which
1914disabled tests to run.
1915
1916### Repeating the Tests
1917
1918Once in a while you'll run into a test whose result is hit-or-miss. Perhaps it
1919will fail only 1% of the time, making it rather hard to reproduce the bug under
1920a debugger. This can be a major source of frustration.
1921
1922The `--gtest_repeat` flag allows you to repeat all (or selected) test methods in
1923a program many times. Hopefully, a flaky test will eventually fail and give you
1924a chance to debug. Here's how to use it:
1925
1926```none
1927$ foo_test --gtest_repeat=1000
1928Repeat foo_test 1000 times and don't stop at failures.
1929
1930$ foo_test --gtest_repeat=-1
1931A negative count means repeating forever.
1932
1933$ foo_test --gtest_repeat=1000 --gtest_break_on_failure
1934Repeat foo_test 1000 times, stopping at the first failure.  This
1935is especially useful when running under a debugger: when the test
1936fails, it will drop into the debugger and you can then inspect
1937variables and stacks.
1938
1939$ foo_test --gtest_repeat=1000 --gtest_filter=FooBar.*
1940Repeat the tests whose name matches the filter 1000 times.
1941```
1942
1943If your test program contains
1944[global set-up/tear-down](#global-set-up-and-tear-down) code, it will be
1945repeated in each iteration as well, as the flakiness may be in it. To avoid
1946repeating global set-up/tear-down, specify
1947`--gtest_recreate_environments_when_repeating=false`{.nowrap}.
1948
1949You can also specify the repeat count by setting the `GTEST_REPEAT` environment
1950variable.
1951
1952### Shuffling the Tests
1953
1954You can specify the `--gtest_shuffle` flag (or set the `GTEST_SHUFFLE`
1955environment variable to `1`) to run the tests in a program in a random order.
1956This helps to reveal bad dependencies between tests.
1957
1958By default, GoogleTest uses a random seed calculated from the current time.
1959Therefore you'll get a different order every time. The console output includes
1960the random seed value, such that you can reproduce an order-related test failure
1961later. To specify the random seed explicitly, use the `--gtest_random_seed=SEED`
1962flag (or set the `GTEST_RANDOM_SEED` environment variable), where `SEED` is an
1963integer in the range [0, 99999]. The seed value 0 is special: it tells
1964GoogleTest to do the default behavior of calculating the seed from the current
1965time.
1966
1967If you combine this with `--gtest_repeat=N`, GoogleTest will pick a different
1968random seed and re-shuffle the tests in each iteration.
1969
1970### Distributing Test Functions to Multiple Machines
1971
1972If you have more than one machine you can use to run a test program, you might
1973want to run the test functions in parallel and get the result faster. We call
1974this technique *sharding*, where each machine is called a *shard*.
1975
1976GoogleTest is compatible with test sharding. To take advantage of this feature,
1977your test runner (not part of GoogleTest) needs to do the following:
1978
19791.  Allocate a number of machines (shards) to run the tests.
19801.  On each shard, set the `GTEST_TOTAL_SHARDS` environment variable to the total
1981    number of shards. It must be the same for all shards.
19821.  On each shard, set the `GTEST_SHARD_INDEX` environment variable to the index
1983    of the shard. Different shards must be assigned different indices, which
1984    must be in the range `[0, GTEST_TOTAL_SHARDS - 1]`.
19851.  Run the same test program on all shards. When GoogleTest sees the above two
1986    environment variables, it will select a subset of the test functions to run.
1987    Across all shards, each test function in the program will be run exactly
1988    once.
19891.  Wait for all shards to finish, then collect and report the results.
1990
1991Your project may have tests that were written without GoogleTest and thus don't
1992understand this protocol. In order for your test runner to figure out which test
1993supports sharding, it can set the environment variable `GTEST_SHARD_STATUS_FILE`
1994to a non-existent file path. If a test program supports sharding, it will create
1995this file to acknowledge that fact; otherwise it will not create it. The actual
1996contents of the file are not important at this time, although we may put some
1997useful information in it in the future.
1998
1999Here's an example to make it clear. Suppose you have a test program `foo_test`
2000that contains the following 5 test functions:
2001
2002```
2003TEST(A, V)
2004TEST(A, W)
2005TEST(B, X)
2006TEST(B, Y)
2007TEST(B, Z)
2008```
2009
2010Suppose you have 3 machines at your disposal. To run the test functions in
2011parallel, you would set `GTEST_TOTAL_SHARDS` to 3 on all machines, and set
2012`GTEST_SHARD_INDEX` to 0, 1, and 2 on the machines respectively. Then you would
2013run the same `foo_test` on each machine.
2014
2015GoogleTest reserves the right to change how the work is distributed across the
2016shards, but here's one possible scenario:
2017
2018*   Machine #0 runs `A.V` and `B.X`.
2019*   Machine #1 runs `A.W` and `B.Y`.
2020*   Machine #2 runs `B.Z`.
2021
2022### Controlling Test Output
2023
2024#### Colored Terminal Output
2025
2026GoogleTest can use colors in its terminal output to make it easier to spot the
2027important information:
2028
2029<pre>...
2030<font color="green">[----------]</font> 1 test from FooTest
2031<font color="green">[ RUN      ]</font> FooTest.DoesAbc
2032<font color="green">[       OK ]</font> FooTest.DoesAbc
2033<font color="green">[----------]</font> 2 tests from BarTest
2034<font color="green">[ RUN      ]</font> BarTest.HasXyzProperty
2035<font color="green">[       OK ]</font> BarTest.HasXyzProperty
2036<font color="green">[ RUN      ]</font> BarTest.ReturnsTrueOnSuccess
2037... some error messages ...
2038<font color="red">[   FAILED ]</font> BarTest.ReturnsTrueOnSuccess
2039...
2040<font color="green">[==========]</font> 30 tests from 14 test suites ran.
2041<font color="green">[   PASSED ]</font> 28 tests.
2042<font color="red">[   FAILED ]</font> 2 tests, listed below:
2043<font color="red">[   FAILED ]</font> BarTest.ReturnsTrueOnSuccess
2044<font color="red">[   FAILED ]</font> AnotherTest.DoesXyz
2045
2046 2 FAILED TESTS
2047</pre>
2048
2049You can set the `GTEST_COLOR` environment variable or the `--gtest_color`
2050command line flag to `yes`, `no`, or `auto` (the default) to enable colors,
2051disable colors, or let GoogleTest decide. When the value is `auto`, GoogleTest
2052will use colors if and only if the output goes to a terminal and (on non-Windows
2053platforms) the `TERM` environment variable is set to `xterm` or `xterm-color`.
2054
2055#### Suppressing test passes
2056
2057By default, GoogleTest prints 1 line of output for each test, indicating if it
2058passed or failed. To show only test failures, run the test program with
2059`--gtest_brief=1`, or set the GTEST_BRIEF environment variable to `1`.
2060
2061#### Suppressing the Elapsed Time
2062
2063By default, GoogleTest prints the time it takes to run each test. To disable
2064that, run the test program with the `--gtest_print_time=0` command line flag, or
2065set the GTEST_PRINT_TIME environment variable to `0`.
2066
2067#### Suppressing UTF-8 Text Output
2068
2069In case of assertion failures, GoogleTest prints expected and actual values of
2070type `string` both as hex-encoded strings as well as in readable UTF-8 text if
2071they contain valid non-ASCII UTF-8 characters. If you want to suppress the UTF-8
2072text because, for example, you don't have an UTF-8 compatible output medium, run
2073the test program with `--gtest_print_utf8=0` or set the `GTEST_PRINT_UTF8`
2074environment variable to `0`.
2075
2076#### Generating an XML Report
2077
2078GoogleTest can emit a detailed XML report to a file in addition to its normal
2079textual output. The report contains the duration of each test, and thus can help
2080you identify slow tests.
2081
2082To generate the XML report, set the `GTEST_OUTPUT` environment variable or the
2083`--gtest_output` flag to the string `"xml:path_to_output_file"`, which will
2084create the file at the given location. You can also just use the string `"xml"`,
2085in which case the output can be found in the `test_detail.xml` file in the
2086current directory.
2087
2088If you specify a directory (for example, `"xml:output/directory/"` on Linux or
2089`"xml:output\directory\"` on Windows), GoogleTest will create the XML file in
2090that directory, named after the test executable (e.g. `foo_test.xml` for test
2091program `foo_test` or `foo_test.exe`). If the file already exists (perhaps left
2092over from a previous run), GoogleTest will pick a different name (e.g.
2093`foo_test_1.xml`) to avoid overwriting it.
2094
2095The report is based on the `junitreport` Ant task. Since that format was
2096originally intended for Java, a little interpretation is required to make it
2097apply to GoogleTest tests, as shown here:
2098
2099```xml
2100<testsuites name="AllTests" ...>
2101  <testsuite name="test_case_name" ...>
2102    <testcase    name="test_name" ...>
2103      <failure message="..."/>
2104      <failure message="..."/>
2105      <failure message="..."/>
2106    </testcase>
2107  </testsuite>
2108</testsuites>
2109```
2110
2111*   The root `<testsuites>` element corresponds to the entire test program.
2112*   `<testsuite>` elements correspond to GoogleTest test suites.
2113*   `<testcase>` elements correspond to GoogleTest test functions.
2114
2115For instance, the following program
2116
2117```c++
2118TEST(MathTest, Addition) { ... }
2119TEST(MathTest, Subtraction) { ... }
2120TEST(LogicTest, NonContradiction) { ... }
2121```
2122
2123could generate this report:
2124
2125```xml
2126<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
2127<testsuites tests="3" failures="1" errors="0" time="0.035" timestamp="2011-10-31T18:52:42" name="AllTests">
2128  <testsuite name="MathTest" tests="2" failures="1" errors="0" time="0.015">
2129    <testcase name="Addition" file="test.cpp" line="1" status="run" time="0.007" classname="">
2130      <failure message="Value of: add(1, 1)&#x0A;  Actual: 3&#x0A;Expected: 2" type="">...</failure>
2131      <failure message="Value of: add(1, -1)&#x0A;  Actual: 1&#x0A;Expected: 0" type="">...</failure>
2132    </testcase>
2133    <testcase name="Subtraction" file="test.cpp" line="2" status="run" time="0.005" classname="">
2134    </testcase>
2135  </testsuite>
2136  <testsuite name="LogicTest" tests="1" failures="0" errors="0" time="0.005">
2137    <testcase name="NonContradiction" file="test.cpp" line="3" status="run" time="0.005" classname="">
2138    </testcase>
2139  </testsuite>
2140</testsuites>
2141```
2142
2143Things to note:
2144
2145*   The `tests` attribute of a `<testsuites>` or `<testsuite>` element tells how
2146    many test functions the GoogleTest program or test suite contains, while the
2147    `failures` attribute tells how many of them failed.
2148
2149*   The `time` attribute expresses the duration of the test, test suite, or
2150    entire test program in seconds.
2151
2152*   The `timestamp` attribute records the local date and time of the test
2153    execution.
2154
2155*   The `file` and `line` attributes record the source file location, where the
2156    test was defined.
2157
2158*   Each `<failure>` element corresponds to a single failed GoogleTest
2159    assertion.
2160
2161#### Generating a JSON Report
2162
2163GoogleTest can also emit a JSON report as an alternative format to XML. To
2164generate the JSON report, set the `GTEST_OUTPUT` environment variable or the
2165`--gtest_output` flag to the string `"json:path_to_output_file"`, which will
2166create the file at the given location. You can also just use the string
2167`"json"`, in which case the output can be found in the `test_detail.json` file
2168in the current directory.
2169
2170The report format conforms to the following JSON Schema:
2171
2172```json
2173{
2174  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/schema#",
2175  "type": "object",
2176  "definitions": {
2177    "TestCase": {
2178      "type": "object",
2179      "properties": {
2180        "name": { "type": "string" },
2181        "tests": { "type": "integer" },
2182        "failures": { "type": "integer" },
2183        "disabled": { "type": "integer" },
2184        "time": { "type": "string" },
2185        "testsuite": {
2186          "type": "array",
2187          "items": {
2188            "$ref": "#/definitions/TestInfo"
2189          }
2190        }
2191      }
2192    },
2193    "TestInfo": {
2194      "type": "object",
2195      "properties": {
2196        "name": { "type": "string" },
2197        "file": { "type": "string" },
2198        "line": { "type": "integer" },
2199        "status": {
2200          "type": "string",
2201          "enum": ["RUN", "NOTRUN"]
2202        },
2203        "time": { "type": "string" },
2204        "classname": { "type": "string" },
2205        "failures": {
2206          "type": "array",
2207          "items": {
2208            "$ref": "#/definitions/Failure"
2209          }
2210        }
2211      }
2212    },
2213    "Failure": {
2214      "type": "object",
2215      "properties": {
2216        "failures": { "type": "string" },
2217        "type": { "type": "string" }
2218      }
2219    }
2220  },
2221  "properties": {
2222    "tests": { "type": "integer" },
2223    "failures": { "type": "integer" },
2224    "disabled": { "type": "integer" },
2225    "errors": { "type": "integer" },
2226    "timestamp": {
2227      "type": "string",
2228      "format": "date-time"
2229    },
2230    "time": { "type": "string" },
2231    "name": { "type": "string" },
2232    "testsuites": {
2233      "type": "array",
2234      "items": {
2235        "$ref": "#/definitions/TestCase"
2236      }
2237    }
2238  }
2239}
2240```
2241
2242The report uses the format that conforms to the following Proto3 using the
2243[JSON encoding](https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/docs/proto3#json):
2244
2245```proto
2246syntax = "proto3";
2247
2248package googletest;
2249
2250import "google/protobuf/timestamp.proto";
2251import "google/protobuf/duration.proto";
2252
2253message UnitTest {
2254  int32 tests = 1;
2255  int32 failures = 2;
2256  int32 disabled = 3;
2257  int32 errors = 4;
2258  google.protobuf.Timestamp timestamp = 5;
2259  google.protobuf.Duration time = 6;
2260  string name = 7;
2261  repeated TestCase testsuites = 8;
2262}
2263
2264message TestCase {
2265  string name = 1;
2266  int32 tests = 2;
2267  int32 failures = 3;
2268  int32 disabled = 4;
2269  int32 errors = 5;
2270  google.protobuf.Duration time = 6;
2271  repeated TestInfo testsuite = 7;
2272}
2273
2274message TestInfo {
2275  string name = 1;
2276  string file = 6;
2277  int32 line = 7;
2278  enum Status {
2279    RUN = 0;
2280    NOTRUN = 1;
2281  }
2282  Status status = 2;
2283  google.protobuf.Duration time = 3;
2284  string classname = 4;
2285  message Failure {
2286    string failures = 1;
2287    string type = 2;
2288  }
2289  repeated Failure failures = 5;
2290}
2291```
2292
2293For instance, the following program
2294
2295```c++
2296TEST(MathTest, Addition) { ... }
2297TEST(MathTest, Subtraction) { ... }
2298TEST(LogicTest, NonContradiction) { ... }
2299```
2300
2301could generate this report:
2302
2303```json
2304{
2305  "tests": 3,
2306  "failures": 1,
2307  "errors": 0,
2308  "time": "0.035s",
2309  "timestamp": "2011-10-31T18:52:42Z",
2310  "name": "AllTests",
2311  "testsuites": [
2312    {
2313      "name": "MathTest",
2314      "tests": 2,
2315      "failures": 1,
2316      "errors": 0,
2317      "time": "0.015s",
2318      "testsuite": [
2319        {
2320          "name": "Addition",
2321          "file": "test.cpp",
2322          "line": 1,
2323          "status": "RUN",
2324          "time": "0.007s",
2325          "classname": "",
2326          "failures": [
2327            {
2328              "message": "Value of: add(1, 1)\n  Actual: 3\nExpected: 2",
2329              "type": ""
2330            },
2331            {
2332              "message": "Value of: add(1, -1)\n  Actual: 1\nExpected: 0",
2333              "type": ""
2334            }
2335          ]
2336        },
2337        {
2338          "name": "Subtraction",
2339          "file": "test.cpp",
2340          "line": 2,
2341          "status": "RUN",
2342          "time": "0.005s",
2343          "classname": ""
2344        }
2345      ]
2346    },
2347    {
2348      "name": "LogicTest",
2349      "tests": 1,
2350      "failures": 0,
2351      "errors": 0,
2352      "time": "0.005s",
2353      "testsuite": [
2354        {
2355          "name": "NonContradiction",
2356          "file": "test.cpp",
2357          "line": 3,
2358          "status": "RUN",
2359          "time": "0.005s",
2360          "classname": ""
2361        }
2362      ]
2363    }
2364  ]
2365}
2366```
2367
2368{: .callout .important}
2369IMPORTANT: The exact format of the JSON document is subject to change.
2370
2371### Controlling How Failures Are Reported
2372
2373#### Detecting Test Premature Exit
2374
2375Google Test implements the _premature-exit-file_ protocol for test runners to
2376catch any kind of unexpected exits of test programs. Upon start, Google Test
2377creates the file which will be automatically deleted after all work has been
2378finished. Then, the test runner can check if this file exists. In case the file
2379remains undeleted, the inspected test has exited prematurely.
2380
2381This feature is enabled only if the `TEST_PREMATURE_EXIT_FILE` environment
2382variable has been set.
2383
2384#### Turning Assertion Failures into Break-Points
2385
2386When running test programs under a debugger, it's very convenient if the
2387debugger can catch an assertion failure and automatically drop into interactive
2388mode. GoogleTest's *break-on-failure* mode supports this behavior.
2389
2390To enable it, set the `GTEST_BREAK_ON_FAILURE` environment variable to a value
2391other than `0`. Alternatively, you can use the `--gtest_break_on_failure`
2392command line flag.
2393
2394#### Disabling Catching Test-Thrown Exceptions
2395
2396GoogleTest can be used either with or without exceptions enabled. If a test
2397throws a C++ exception or (on Windows) a structured exception (SEH), by default
2398GoogleTest catches it, reports it as a test failure, and continues with the next
2399test method. This maximizes the coverage of a test run. Also, on Windows an
2400uncaught exception will cause a pop-up window, so catching the exceptions allows
2401you to run the tests automatically.
2402
2403When debugging the test failures, however, you may instead want the exceptions
2404to be handled by the debugger, such that you can examine the call stack when an
2405exception is thrown. To achieve that, set the `GTEST_CATCH_EXCEPTIONS`
2406environment variable to `0`, or use the `--gtest_catch_exceptions=0` flag when
2407running the tests.
2408
2409### Sanitizer Integration
2410
2411The
2412[Undefined Behavior Sanitizer](https://clang.llvm.org/docs/UndefinedBehaviorSanitizer.html),
2413[Address Sanitizer](https://github.com/google/sanitizers/wiki/AddressSanitizer),
2414and
2415[Thread Sanitizer](https://github.com/google/sanitizers/wiki/ThreadSanitizerCppManual)
2416all provide weak functions that you can override to trigger explicit failures
2417when they detect sanitizer errors, such as creating a reference from `nullptr`.
2418To override these functions, place definitions for them in a source file that
2419you compile as part of your main binary:
2420
2421```
2422extern "C" {
2423void __ubsan_on_report() {
2424  FAIL() << "Encountered an undefined behavior sanitizer error";
2425}
2426void __asan_on_error() {
2427  FAIL() << "Encountered an address sanitizer error";
2428}
2429void __tsan_on_report() {
2430  FAIL() << "Encountered a thread sanitizer error";
2431}
2432}  // extern "C"
2433```
2434
2435After compiling your project with one of the sanitizers enabled, if a particular
2436test triggers a sanitizer error, GoogleTest will report that it failed.
2437