How to Output in Cli During Execution of PHP Unit Tests

How to output in CLI during execution of PHP Unit tests?

UPDATE

Just realized another way to do this that works much better than the --verbose command line option:

class TestSomething extends PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase {
    function testSomething() {
        $myDebugVar = array(1, 2, 3);
        fwrite(STDERR, print_r($myDebugVar, TRUE));
    }
}

This lets you dump anything to your console at any time without all the unwanted output that comes along with the --verbose CLI option.

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As other answers have noted, it's best to test output using the built-in methods like:

$this->expectOutputString('foo');

However, sometimes it's helpful to be naughty and see one-off/temporary debugging output from within your test cases. There is no need for the var_dump hack/workaround, though. This can easily be accomplished by setting the --verbose command line option when running your test suite. For example:

$ phpunit --verbose -c phpunit.xml

This will display output from inside your test methods when running in the CLI environment.

See: Writing Tests for PHPUnit - Testing Output.

PHPunit result output on the CLI not showing test names

Use phpunit --testdox
On the cli this will give you a very readable testdox format and allow you to see and fix your multiple test suites easily e.g.

PHPUnit 3.7.37 by Sebastian Bergmann.

Configuration read from /home/badass-project/tests/phpunit.xml

AnalyticsViewers
 [x] test getViewersForMonth throws for no valid date
 [x] test getViewersForMonth limits correctly
 [x] test getViewersForMonth only returns unprocessed records
 [ ] test getViewersForMonth marks retrieved records as processed
 [ ] test getViewersForMonth returns zero for no view data
 [x] test getViewersForMonth returns valid data

Organisation
 [x] test getOrganisation returns orgs

I use it in combination with the stack traces from a vanilla PHPUnit run to quickly setup.

It also has the added benefit of replacing underscores in your test function names with spaces. eg test_getViewersForMonth_returns_valid_data becomes test getViewersForMonth returns zero for no view data which is more human readable.

N.B. Generally speaking if you're following the PSR coding standards you should be using camelCase for method names but for unit tests methods I break this rule to reduce cognitive load during TDD development.

echo in phpunit tests

Current versions of PHPUnit >3.6.4 (and all 3.5.* versions) will just print everything you echo in a test case.

<?php

class OutputTestCase extends PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase {

    public function testEcho() {
        echo "Hi";
    }   
}

produces:

phpunit foo.php 
PHPUnit 3.6.7 by Sebastian Bergmann.

.Hi

Time: 0 seconds, Memory: 3.25Mb

OK (1 test, 0 assertions)

So if you are on an old 3.6 version just upgrade :)

How do I test a command-line program with PHPUnit?

One way is to use the backtick operator (`) to capture the output of the program, then examine that output. This works well under Unix/Linux-style OSes, as you can also capture error outputs like STDERR. (It is more painful under Windows, but can be done (especially using Cygwin).)

For example:

public function testHelp()
{
        $output = `./add-event --help 2>&1`;
        $this->assertRegExp(    '/^usage:/m',                $output, 'no help message?' );
        $this->assertRegExp(    '/where:/m',                 $output, 'no help message?' );
        $this->assertNotRegExp( '/where event types are:/m', $output, 'no help message?' );
}

You can see that both STDOUT and STDERR were captured to $output, then regex assertions were used to test whether the output resembled the correct output.

Hide output during PHPUnit test execution

You can set the setOutputCallback to a do nothing function. The effect is to suppress any output printed in the test or in the tested class.

As Example:

namespace Acme\DemoBundle\Tests;

class NoOutputTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase {

    public function testSuppressedOutput()
    {
        // Suppress  output to console
        $this->setOutputCallback(function() {});
        print '*';
        $this->assertFalse(false, "Don't see the *");
    }

}

You can find some reference in the doc

Hope this help

PHPUnit configuration option to list executed tests

You can use the debug flag as described in the doc in the command-line test runner:

--verbose

Output more verbose information, for instance the names of tests that
were incomplete or have been skipped.

--debug

Output debug information such as the name of a test when its execution
starts.

Hope this help

PHPUnit print tests execution time

You can implement your own test runner, for example by extending PHPUnit_TextUI_TestRunner and make it collect and print run times.

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