How to test a function with input call?

Question

I have a console program written in Python. It asks the user questions using the command:

some_input = input(\'Answer the question:\', ...)

Answer 1

You should probably mock the built-in input function, you can use the teardown functionality provided by pytest to revert back to the original input function after each test.

import module  # The module which contains the call to input

class TestClass:

    def test_function_1(self):
        # Override the Python built-in input method 
        module.input = lambda: 'some_input'
        # Call the function you would like to test (which uses input)
        output = module.function()  
        assert output == 'expected_output'

    def test_function_2(self):
        module.input = lambda: 'some_other_input'
        output = module.function()  
        assert output == 'another_expected_output'        

    def teardown_method(self, method):
        # This method is being called after each test case, and it will revert input back to original function
        module.input = input  

A more elegant solution would be to use the mock module together with a with statement. This way you don't need to use teardown and the patched method will only live within the with scope.

import mock
import module

def test_function():
    with mock.patch.object(__builtins__, 'input', lambda: 'some_input'):
        assert module.function() == 'expected_output'