How to properly assert that an exception gets rais

Question

Code:

# coding=utf-8
import pytest


def whatever():
    return 9/0

def test_whatever():
    try:
        whatever()
    except ZeroDivisionError as exc:
        pytest.fail(exc, pytrace=True)

Output:

================================ test session starts =================================
platform linux2 -- Python 2.7.3 -- py-1.4.20 -- pytest-2.5.2
plugins: django, cov
collected 1 items 

pytest_test.py F

====================================== FAILURES ======================================
___________________________________ test_whatever ____________________________________

    def test_whatever():
        try:
            whatever()
        except ZeroDivisionError as exc:
>           pytest.fail(exc, pytrace=True)
E           Failed: integer division or modulo by zero

pytest_test.py:12: Failed
============================== 1 failed in 1.16 seconds ==============================

How to make pytest print traceback, so I would see where in the whatever function an exception was raised?

Answer 1

you can try

def test_exception():
    with pytest.raises(Exception) as excinfo:   
        function_that_raises_exception()   
    assert str(excinfo.value) == 'some info' 

Answer 2

Have you tried to remove "pytrace=True" ?

pytest.fail(exc, pytrace=True) # before
pytest.fail(exc) # after

Have you tried to run with '--fulltrace' ?

Answer 3

This solution is what we are using:

def test_date_invalidformat():
    """
    Test if input incorrect data will raises ValueError exception
    """
    date = "06/21/2018 00:00:00"
    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
        app.func(date) #my function to be tested

Please refer to pytest, https://docs.pytest.org/en/latest/reference.html#pytest-raises

Answer 4

pytest.raises(Exception) is what you need.

Code

import pytest

def test_passes():
    with pytest.raises(Exception) as e_info:
        x = 1 / 0

def test_passes_without_info():
    with pytest.raises(Exception):
        x = 1 / 0

def test_fails():
    with pytest.raises(Exception) as e_info:
        x = 1 / 1

def test_fails_without_info():
    with pytest.raises(Exception):
        x = 1 / 1

# Don't do this. Assertions are caught as exceptions.
def test_passes_but_should_not():
    try:
        x = 1 / 1
        assert False
    except Exception:
        assert True

# Even if the appropriate exception is caught, it is bad style,
# because the test result is less informative
# than it would be with pytest.raises(e)
# (it just says pass or fail.)

def test_passes_but_bad_style():
    try:
        x = 1 / 0
        assert False
    except ZeroDivisionError:
        assert True

def test_fails_but_bad_style():
    try:
        x = 1 / 1
        assert False
    except ZeroDivisionError:
        assert True

Output

============================================================================================= test session starts ==============================================================================================
platform linux2 -- Python 2.7.6 -- py-1.4.26 -- pytest-2.6.4
collected 7 items 

test.py ..FF..F

=================================================================================================== FAILURES ===================================================================================================
__________________________________________________________________________________________________ test_fails __________________________________________________________________________________________________

    def test_fails():
        with pytest.raises(Exception) as e_info:
>           x = 1 / 1
E           Failed: DID NOT RAISE

test.py:13: Failed
___________________________________________________________________________________________ test_fails_without_info ____________________________________________________________________________________________

    def test_fails_without_info():
        with pytest.raises(Exception):
>           x = 1 / 1
E           Failed: DID NOT RAISE

test.py:17: Failed
___________________________________________________________________________________________ test_fails_but_bad_style ___________________________________________________________________________________________

    def test_fails_but_bad_style():
        try:
            x = 1 / 1
>           assert False
E           assert False

test.py:43: AssertionError
====================================================================================== 3 failed, 4 passed in 0.02 seconds ======================================================================================

Note that e_info saves the exception object so you can extract details from it. For example, if you want to check the exception call stack or another nested exception inside.

Answer 5

Right way is using pytest.raises but I found interesting alternative way in comments here and want to save it for future readers of this question:

try:
    thing_that_rasises_typeerror()
    assert False
except TypeError:
    assert True

Answer 6

pytest constantly evolves and with one of the nice changes in the recent past it is now possible to simultaneously test for

• the exception type (strict test)
• the error message (strict or loose check using a regular expression)

Two examples from the documentation:

with pytest.raises(ValueError, match='must be 0 or None'):
    raise ValueError('value must be 0 or None')

with pytest.raises(ValueError, match=r'must be \d+$'):
    raise ValueError('value must be 42')

I have been using that approach in a number of projects and like it very much.