The Command-Line Test Runner

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

phpunit ArrayTest
PHPUnit 4.8.0 by Sebastian Bergmann and contributors.

..

Time: 0 seconds


OK (2 tests, 2 assertions)

When invoked as shown above, the PHPUnit command-line test runner will look for a ArrayTest.php sourcefile in the current working directory, load it, and expect to find a ArrayTest test case class. It will then execute the tests of that class.

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.
R: Printed when the test has been marked as risky (see Chapter 6).
S: Printed when the test has been skipped (see Chapter 7).
I: Printed when the test is marked as being incomplete or not yet implemented (see Chapter 7).

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

Command-Line Options

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

phpunit --help
PHPUnit 4.8.0 by Sebastian Bergmann and contributors.

Usage: phpunit [options] UnitTest [UnitTest.php]
       phpunit [options] <directory>

Code Coverage Options:

  --coverage-clover <file>  Generate code coverage report in Clover XML format.
  --coverage-crap4j <file>  Generate code coverage report in Crap4J XML format.
  --coverage-html <dir>     Generate code coverage report in HTML format.
  --coverage-php <file>     Export PHP_CodeCoverage object to file.
  --coverage-text=<file>    Generate code coverage report in text format.
                            Default: Standard output.
  --coverage-xml <dir>      Generate code coverage report in PHPUnit XML format.

Logging Options:

  --log-junit <file>        Log test execution in JUnit XML format to file.
  --log-tap <file>          Log test execution in TAP format to file.
  --log-json <file>         Log test execution in JSON format.
  --testdox-html <file>     Write agile documentation in HTML format to file.
  --testdox-text <file>     Write agile documentation in Text format to file.

Test Selection Options:

  --filter <pattern>        Filter which tests to run.
  --testsuite <pattern>     Filter which testsuite to run.
  --group ...               Only runs tests from the specified group(s).
  --exclude-group ...       Exclude tests from the specified group(s).
  --list-groups             List available test groups.
  --test-suffix ...         Only search for test in files with specified
                            suffix(es). Default: Test.php,.phpt

Test Execution Options:

  --report-useless-tests    Be strict about tests that do not test anything.
  --strict-coverage         Be strict about unintentionally covered code.
  --strict-global-state     Be strict about changes to global state
  --disallow-test-output    Be strict about output during tests.
  --enforce-time-limit      Enforce time limit based on test size.
  --disallow-todo-tests     Disallow @todo-annotated tests.

  --process-isolation       Run each test in a separate PHP process.
  --no-globals-backup       Do not backup and restore $GLOBALS for each test.
  --static-backup           Backup and restore static attributes for each test.

  --colors=<flag>           Use colors in output ("never", "auto" or "always").
  --columns <n>             Number of columns to use for progress output.
  --columns max             Use maximum number of columns for progress output.
  --stderr                  Write to STDERR instead of STDOUT.
  --stop-on-error           Stop execution upon first error.
  --stop-on-failure         Stop execution upon first error or failure.
  --stop-on-risky           Stop execution upon first risky test.
  --stop-on-skipped         Stop execution upon first skipped test.
  --stop-on-incomplete      Stop execution upon first incomplete test.
  -v|--verbose              Output more verbose information.
  --debug                   Display debugging information during test execution.

  --loader <loader>         TestSuiteLoader implementation to use.
  --repeat <times>          Runs the test(s) repeatedly.
  --tap                     Report test execution progress in TAP format.
  --testdox                 Report test execution progress in TestDox format.
  --printer <printer>       TestListener implementation to use.

Configuration Options:

  --bootstrap <file>        A "bootstrap" PHP file that is run before the tests.
  -c|--configuration <file> Read configuration from XML file.
  --no-configuration        Ignore default configuration file (phpunit.xml).
  --include-path <path(s)>  Prepend PHP's include_path with given path(s).
  -d key[=value]            Sets a php.ini value.

Miscellaneous Options:

  -h|--help                 Prints this usage information.
  --version                 Prints the version and exits.

phpunit UnitTest

Runs the tests that are provided by the class UnitTest. This class is expected to be declared in the UnitTest.php sourcefile.

UnitTest must be either a class that inherits from PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase or a class that provides a public static suite() method which returns a PHPUnit_Framework_Test object, for example an instance of the PHPUnit_Framework_TestSuite class.

phpunit UnitTest UnitTest.php

Runs the tests that are provided by the class UnitTest. This class is expected to be declared in the specified sourcefile.

--coverage-clover

Generates a logfile in XML format with the code coverage information for the tests run. See Chapter 14 for more details.