tests.js

Console Test Runner: writes to stdin, reads stdout.

tests.js is useful for test-driven development of command-line utilities. Works on Mac OS X, Windows and Linux so you can write cross-platform tests. Tests do not depend on the implementation language of the program.

Usage

You will need Node.js and NPM. Install using the following command.

$ npm install -g tests

Then create some .test files and execute the following command in the folder with tests.

$ tests

Test files should have the following structure.

• first line—command to execute (can be relative path, can contain pipeline of several commands),

• then <<< and input to send to the program (can be multiple lines),

• then >>> and expected output.

Example:

wc
<<<
one two three
>>>
       1       3      14

This test executes wc command, sends string one two three to its stdin and checks the output of the program.

When the test is run you should see something like

✓  /path/to/tests/wc.test: 9ms

✔  1 test complete (9ms)

To compare program’s output with expected output not as literal strings but as JSON objects write >>>JSON in the test file instead of >>>.

For more examples see https://github.com/sheremetyev/texts.js/tree/master/test.

Acknowledgements

The idea was borrowed from John MacFarlane’s tests format in Pandoc2.