xdoctest 1.2.0

Installation: from pypi

Xdoctest is distributed on pypi as a universal wheel and can be pip installed on Python 3.8+ (Python 2.7 and 3.4 / 3.5 support was removed in Version 1.1.0, 3.6 / 3.7 support was removed in Version 1.2.0). Installations are tested on CPython and PyPy implementations.

pip install xdoctest

Distributions on pypi are signed with a GPG public key: D297D757. If you care enough to check the gpg signature (hopefully pip will just do this in the future), you should also verify this agrees with the contents of dev/public_gpg_key.

Usage: run your doctests

After installing, the fastest way to run all doctests in your project is:

python -m xdoctest /path/to/your/pkg-or-module.py

or if your module has been pip-installed / is in the PYTHONPATH run

python -m xdoctest yourmodname

Check if xdoctest will work on your package

You can quickly check if xdoctest will work on your package out-of-the box by installing it via pip and running python -m xdoctest <pkg> all, where <pkg> is the path to your python package / module (or its name if it is installed in your PYTHONPATH).

For example with you might test if xdoctest works on networkx or sklearn as such: python -m xdoctest networkx all / python -m xdoctest sklearn all.

Using the pytest interface

When pytest is run, xdoctest is automatically discovered, but is disabled by default. This is because xdoctest needs to replace the builtin doctest plugin.

To enable this plugin, run pytest with --xdoctest or --xdoc. This can either be specified on the command line or added to your addopts options in the [pytest] section of your pytest.ini or tox.ini.

To run a specific doctest, xdoctest sets up pytest node names for these doctests using the following pattern: <path/to/file.py>::<callname>:<num>. For example a doctest for a function might look like this mymod.py::funcname:0, and a class method might look like this: mymod.py::ClassName::method:0

Using the native interface.

In addition to the pytest plugin, xdoctest has a native doctest runner. You can use the xdoctest command line tool that is installed with the package and point it a module directory or a particular file.

You can also make it such that invoking your module as __main__ invokes the xdoctest native runner using the using the xdoctest.doctest_module(path) method, which can be placed in the __main__ section of any module as such:

if __name__ == '__main__':
    import xdoctest
    xdoctest.doctest_module(__file__)

This sets up the ability to invoke the xdoctest command line interface. python -m <modname> <command>.

However, it is typically prefered to just use the xdoctest executable and pass it the path to your file, or the name of an installed module. In this case it is invoked like xdoctest -m <modname> <command>.

Using either of these methods you can natively invoke xdoctest on a module or package, which exposes the command line interface. Both of these expose the command line interface, allowing you to pass a command to xdoctest.

• If <command> is all, then each enabled doctest in the module is executed: python -m <modname> all

• If <command> is list, then the names of each enabled doctest is listed.

• If <command> is dump, then all doctests are converted into a format suitable for unit testing, and dumped to stdout (new in 0.4.0).

• If <command> is a callname (name of a function or a class and method), then that specific doctest is executed: python -m <modname> <callname>. Note: you can execute disabled doctests or functions without any arguments (zero-args) this way.

For example if you created a module mymod.py with the following code:

def func1():
    """
    Example:
        >>> assert func1() == 1
    """
    return 1

def func2(a):
    """
    Example:
        >>> assert func2(1) == 2
        >>> assert func2(2) == 3
    """
    return a + 1

You could

• Use the command xdoctest -m mymod list to list the names of all functions with doctests

• Use the command xdoctest -m mymod all to run all functions with doctests

• Use the command xdoctest -m mymod func1 to run only func1’s doctest

• Use the command xdoctest -m mymod func2 to run only func2’s doctest

Passing --help to either way of invoking the native runner will result in something similar to the following that outlines what other options are available:

usage: xdoctest [-h] [--version] [-m MODNAME] [-c COMMAND] [--style {auto,google,freeform}] [--analysis {auto,static,dynamic}] [--durations DURATIONS] [--time]
                [--colored COLORED] [--nocolor] [--offset] [--report {none,cdiff,ndiff,udiff,only_first_failure}] [--options OPTIONS] [--global-exec GLOBAL_EXEC]
                [--verbose VERBOSE] [--quiet] [--silent]
                [arg ...]

Xdoctest 1.0.1 - on Python - 3.9.9 (main, Jun 10 2022, 17:45:11)
[GCC 11.2.0] - discover and run doctests within a python package

positional arguments:
  arg                   Ignored if optional arguments are specified, otherwise: Defaults --modname to arg.pop(0). Defaults --command to arg.pop(0). (default: None)

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --version             Display version info and quit (default: False)
  -m MODNAME, --modname MODNAME
                        Module name or path. If specified positional modules are ignored (default: None)
  -c COMMAND, --command COMMAND
                        A doctest name or a command (list|all|<callname>). Defaults to all (default: None)
  --style {auto,google,freeform}
                        Choose the style of doctests that will be parsed (default: auto)
  --analysis {auto,static,dynamic}
                        How doctests are collected (default: auto)
  --durations DURATIONS
                        Specify execution times for slowest N tests.N=0 will show times for all tests (default: None)
  --time                Same as if durations=0 (default: False)
  --colored COLORED     Enable or disable ANSI coloration in stdout (default: True)
  --nocolor             Disable ANSI coloration in stdout
  --offset              If True formatted source linenumbers will agree with their location in the source file. Otherwise they will be relative to the doctest itself. (default:
                        False)
  --report {none,cdiff,ndiff,udiff,only_first_failure}
                        Choose another output format for diffs on xdoctest failure (default: udiff)
  --options OPTIONS     Default directive flags for doctests (default: None)
  --global-exec GLOBAL_EXEC
                        Custom Python code to execute before every test (default: None)
  --verbose VERBOSE     Verbosity level. 0 is silent, 1 prints out test names, 2 additionally prints test stdout, 3 additionally prints test source (default: 3)
  --quiet               sets verbosity to 1
  --silent              sets verbosity to 0

Zero-args runner

The native interface has a “zero-args” mode in the xdoctest runner. This allows you to run functions in your modules via the command line as long as they take no arguments. The purpose is to create a quick entry point to functions in your code (because xdoctest is taking the space in the __main__ block).

For example, you might create a module mymod.py with the following code:

def myfunc():
    print('hello world')

if __name__ == '__main__':
    import xdoctest
    xdoctest.doctest_module(__file__)

Even though myfunc has no doctest it can still be run using the command python -m mymod myfunc.

Note, even though “zero-arg” functions can be run via this interface they are not run by python -m mymod all, nor are they listed by python -m mymod list.

However, if you are doing this often, you may be better served by fire.