Test::Output(3)

NAME
Test::Output - Utilities to test STDOUT and STDERR messages.

VERSION
Version 0.16

SYNOPSIS
    use Test::More tests => 4;
    use Test::Output;

    sub writer {
      print "Write out.\n";
      print STDERR "Error out.\n";
    }

    stdout_is(\&writer,"Write out.\n",'Test STDOUT');

    stderr_isnt(\&writer,"No error out.\n",'Test STDERR');

    combined_is(
                \&writer,
                "Write out.\nError out.\n",
                'Test STDOUT & STDERR combined'
               );

    output_is(
              \&writer,
              "Write out.\n",
              "Error out.\n",
              'Test STDOUT & STDERR'
            );

   # Use bare blocks.

   stdout_is { print "test" } "test", "Test STDOUT";
   stderr_isnt { print "bad test" } "test", "Test STDERR";
   output_is { print 'STDOUT'; print STDERR 'STDERR' }
     "STDOUT", "STDERR", "Test output";

DESCRIPTION
Test::Output provides a simple interface for testing output sent to STDOUT or STDERR. A number of different utilities are included to try and be as flexible as possible to the tester.

Originally this module was designed not to have external requirements, however, the features provided by Sub::Exporter over what Exporter provides is just to great to pass up.

Test::Output ties STDOUT and STDERR using Test::Output::Tie.

TESTS

  STDOUT

stdout_is
stdout_isnt
       stdout_is  ( $coderef, $expected, 'description' );
       stdout_is    { ... } $expected, 'description';
       stdout_isnt( $coderef, $expected, 'description' );
       stdout_isnt  { ... } $expected, 'description';

    stdout_is() captures output sent to STDOUT from $coderef and compares it against $expected. The test passes if equal.

    stdout_isnt() passes if STDOUT is not equal to $expected.

stdout_like
stdout_unlike
       stdout_like  ( $coderef, qr/$expected/, 'description' );
       stdout_like    { ... } qr/$expected/, 'description';
       stdout_unlike( $coderef, qr/$expected/, 'description' );
       stdout_unlike  { ... } qr/$expected/, 'description';

    stdout_like() captures the output sent to STDOUT from $coderef and compares it to the regex in $expected. The test passes if the regex matches.

    stdout_unlike() passes if STDOUT does not match the regex.

  STDERR

stderr_is
stderr_isnt
       stderr_is  ( $coderef, $expected, 'description' );
       stderr_is    {... } $expected, 'description';
       stderr_isnt( $coderef, $expected, 'description' );
       stderr_isnt  {... } $expected, 'description';

    stderr_is() is similar to stdout_is, except that it captures STDERR. The test passes if STDERR from $coderef equals $expected.

    stderr_isnt() passes if STDERR is not equal to $expected.

stderr_like
stderr_unlike
       stderr_like  ( $coderef, qr/$expected/, 'description' );
       stderr_like   { ...} qr/$expected/, 'description';
       stderr_unlike( $coderef, qr/$expected/, 'description' );
       stderr_unlike  { ...} qr/$expected/, 'description';

    stderr_like() is similar to stdout_like() except that it compares the regex $expected to STDERR captured from $codref. The test passes if the regex matches.

    stderr_unlike() passes if STDERR does not match the regex.

  COMBINED OUTPUT

combined_is
combined_isnt
       combined_is   ( $coderef, $expected, 'description' );
       combined_is   {... } $expected, 'description';
       combined_isnt ( $coderef, $expected, 'description' );
       combined_isnt {... } $expected, 'description';

    combined_is() directs STDERR to STDOUT then captures STDOUT. This is equivalent to UNIXs 2>&1. The test passes if the combined STDOUT and STDERR from $coderef equals $expected.

    combined_isnt() passes if combined STDOUT and STDERR are not equal to $expected.

combined_like
combined_unlike
       combined_like   ( $coderef, qr/$expected/, 'description' );
       combined_like   { ...} qr/$expected/, 'description';
       combined_unlike ( $coderef, qr/$expected/, 'description' );
       combined_unlike { ...} qr/$expected/, 'description';

    combined_like() is similar to combined_is() except that it compares a regex ($expected) to STDOUT and STDERR captured from $codref. The test passes if the regex matches.

    combined_unlike() passes if the combined STDOUT and STDERR does not match the regex.

  OUTPUT

output_is
output_isnt
       output_is  ( $coderef, $expected_stdout, $expected_stderr, 'description' );
       output_is    {... } $expected_stdout, $expected_stderr, 'description';
       output_isnt( $coderef, $expected_stdout, $expected_stderr, 'description' );
       output_isnt  {... } $expected_stdout, $expected_stderr, 'description';

    The output_is() function is a combination of the stdout_is() and stderr_is() functions. For example:

      output_is(sub {print "foo"; print STDERR "bar";},'foo','bar');

    is functionally equivalent to

      stdout_is(sub {print "foo";},'foo')
        && stderr_is(sub {print STDERR "bar";'bar');

    except that $coderef is only executed once.

    Unlike, stdout_is() and stderr_is() which ignore STDERR and STDOUT repectively, output_is() requires both STDOUT and STDERR to match in order to pass. Setting either $expected_stdout or $expected_stderr to "undef" ignores STDOUT or STDERR respectively.

      output_is(sub {print "foo"; print STDERR "bar";},'foo',undef);

    is the same as

      stdout_is(sub {print "foo";},'foo')

    output_isnt() provides the opposite function of output_is(). It is a combination of stdout_isnt() and stderr_isnt().

      output_isnt(sub {print "foo"; print STDERR "bar";},'bar','foo');

    is functionally equivalent to

      stdout_is(sub {print "foo";},'bar')
        && stderr_is(sub {print STDERR "bar";'foo');

    As with output_is(), setting either $expected_stdout or $expected_stderr to "undef" ignores the output to that facility.

      output_isnt(sub {print "foo"; print STDERR "bar";},undef,'foo');

    is the same as

      stderr_is(sub {print STDERR "bar";},'foo')

output_like
output_unlike
      output_like  ( $coderef, $regex_stdout, $regex_stderr, 'description' );
      output_like  { ... } $regex_stdout, $regex_stderr, 'description';
      output_unlike( $coderef, $regex_stdout, $regex_stderr, 'description' );
      output_unlike { ... } $regex_stdout, $regex_stderr, 'description';

    output_like() and output_unlike() follow the same principles as output_is() and output_isnt() except they use a regular expression for matching.

    output_like() attempts to match $regex_stdout and $regex_stderr against STDOUT and STDERR produced by $coderef. The test passes if both match.

      output_like(sub {print "foo"; print STDERR "bar";},qr/foo/,qr/bar/);

    The above test is successful.

    Like output_is(), setting either $regex_stdout or $regex_stderr to "undef" ignores the output to that facility.

      output_like(sub {print "foo"; print STDERR "bar";},qr/foo/,undef);

    is the same as

      stdout_like(sub {print "foo"; print STDERR "bar";},qr/foo/);

    output_unlike() test pass if output from $coderef doesn't match $regex_stdout and $regex_stderr.

EXPORTS
By default, all tests are exported, however with the switch to Sub::Exporter export groups are now available to better limit imports.

To import tests for STDOUT:

  use Test::Output qw(:stdout);

To import tests STDERR:

  use Test::Output qw(:stderr);

To import just the functions:

  use Test::Output qw(:functions);

And to import all tests:

  use Test::Output;

The following is a list of group names and which functions are exported:

stdout
    stdout_is stdout_isnt stdout_like stdout_unlike

stderr
    stderr_is stderr_isnt stderr_like stderr_unlike

output
    output_is output_isnt output_like output_unlike

combined
    combined_is combined_isnt combined_like combined_unlike

tests
    All of the above, this is the default when no options are given.

Sub::Exporter allows for many other options, I encourage reading its documentation.

FUNCTIONS

  stdout_from
  my $stdout = stdout_from($coderef)
  my $stdout = stdout_from { ... };

stdout_from() executes $coderef and captures STDOUT.

  stderr_from
  my $stderr = stderr_from($coderef)
  my $stderr = stderr_from { ... };

stderr_from() executes $coderef and captures STDERR.

  output_from
  my ($stdout, $stderr) = output_from($coderef)
  my ($stdout, $stderr) = output_from {...};

output_from() executes $coderef one time capturing both STDOUT and STDERR.

  combined_from
  my $combined = combined_from($coderef);
  my $combined = combined_from {...};

combined_from() executes $coderef one time combines STDOUT and STDERR, and captures them. combined_from() is equivalent to using 2>&1 in UNIX.

AUTHOR
Currently maintained by brian d foy, "bdfoy@cpan.org".

Shawn Sorichetti, "<ssoriche@cpan.org>"

SOURCE AVAILABILITY
This module is in Github:

        http://github.com/briandfoy/test-output/tree/master

BUGS
Please report any bugs or feature requests to "bug-test-output@rt.cpan.org", or through the web interface at <http://rt.cpan.org>. I will be notified, and then you'll automatically be notified of progress on your bug as I make changes.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to chromatic whose TieOut.pm was the basis for capturing output.

Also thanks to rjbs for his help cleaning the documention, and pushing me to Sub::Exporter.

Thanks to David Wheeler for providing code block support and tests.

Thanks to Michael G Schwern for the solution to combining STDOUT and STDERR.

COPYRIGHT & LICENSE
Copyright 2005-2008 Shawn Sorichetti, All Rights Reserved.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.