Outputting data from unit test in Python

Question

If I\'m writing unit tests in python (using the unittest module), is it possible to output data from a failed test, so I can examine it to help deduce what caused the error?

Answer 1

You can use logging module for that.

So in the unit test code, use:

import logging as log

def test_foo(self):
    log.debug("Some debug message.")
    log.info("Some info message.")
    log.warning("Some warning message.")
    log.error("Some error message.")

By default warnings and errors are outputted to /dev/stderr, so they should be visible on the console.

To customize logs (such as formatting), try the following sample:

# Set-up logger
if args.verbose or args.debug:
    logging.basicConfig( stream=sys.stdout )
    root = logging.getLogger()
    root.setLevel(logging.INFO if args.verbose else logging.DEBUG)
    ch = logging.StreamHandler(sys.stdout)
    ch.setLevel(logging.INFO if args.verbose else logging.DEBUG)
    ch.setFormatter(logging.Formatter('%(asctime)s %(levelname)s: %(name)s: %(message)s'))
    root.addHandler(ch)
else:
    logging.basicConfig(stream=sys.stderr)