PHPUnit Pocket Guide

Chapter 5. The Command-Line Test Runner

The PHPUnit command-line test runner is invoked through the phpunit command. The following code shows how to run tests with the PHPUnit command-line test runner:

phpunit ArrayTest
PHPUnit 2.3.0 by Sebastian Bergmann.

..

Time: 0.067288

OK (2 tests)

For each test run, the PHPUnit command-line tool prints one character to indicate progress:

. Printed when the test succeeds.

F Printed when an assertion fails while running the test method.

E Printed when an error occurs while running the test method.

I Printed when the test is marked as being incomplete or not yet implemented (see "Incomplete Tests," later in this book).

PHPUnit distinguishes between failures and errors. A failure is a violated PHPUnit assertion. An error is an unexpected exception or a PHP error. Sometimes this distinction proves useful because errors tend to be easier to fix than failures. If you have a big list of problems, it's best to tackle the errors first and see if you have any failures left when the errors are all fixed.

Let's take a look at the command-line test runner's switches in the following code:

phpunit --help PHPUnit 2.3.0 by Sebastian Bergmann. Usage: phpunit [switches] UnitTest [UnitTest.php] --coverage-data <file> Write code-coverage data in raw format to file. --coverage-html <file> Write code-coverage data in HTML format to file. --coverage-text <file> Write code-coverage data in text format to file. --testdox-html <file> Write agile documentation in HTML format ...