How do I run all Python unit tests in a directory?

With Python 2.7 and higher you don't have to write new code or use third-party tools to do this; recursive test execution via the command line is built-in. Put an __init__.py in your test directory and:

python -m unittest discover <test_directory>
# or
python -m unittest discover -s <directory> -p '*_test.py'

You can read more in the python 2.7 or python 3.x unittest documentation.

Update for 2021:

Lots of modern python projects use more advanced tools like pytest. For example, pull down matplotlib or scikit-learn and you will see they both use it.

It is important to know about these newer tools because when you have more than 7000 tests you need:

more advanced ways to summarize what passes, skipped, warnings, errors

easy ways to see how they failed

percent complete as it is running

total run time

ways to generate a test report

etc etc

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In python 3, if you're using unittest.TestCase:

You must have an empty (or otherwise) __init__.py file in your test directory (must be named test/)

Your test files inside test/ match the pattern test_*.py. They can be inside a subdirectory under test/, and those subdirs can be named as anything.

Then, you can run all the tests with:

python -m unittest

Done! A solution less than 100 lines. Hopefully another python beginner saves time by finding this.

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You could use a test runner that would do this for you. nose is very good for example. When run, it will find tests in the current tree and run them.

Updated:

Here's some code from my pre-nose days. You probably don't want the explicit list of module names, but maybe the rest will be useful to you.

testmodules = [
    'cogapp.test_makefiles',
    'cogapp.test_whiteutils',
    'cogapp.test_cogapp',
    ]

suite = unittest.TestSuite()

for t in testmodules:
    try:
        # If the module defines a suite() function, call it to get the suite.
        mod = __import__(t, globals(), locals(), ['suite'])
        suitefn = getattr(mod, 'suite')
        suite.addTest(suitefn())
    except (ImportError, AttributeError):
        # else, just load all the test cases from the module.
        suite.addTest(unittest.defaultTestLoader.loadTestsFromName(t))

unittest.TextTestRunner().run(suite)

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This is now possible directly from unittest: unittest.TestLoader.discover.

import unittest
loader = unittest.TestLoader()
start_dir = 'path/to/your/test/files'
suite = loader.discover(start_dir)

runner = unittest.TextTestRunner()
runner.run(suite)

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Well by studying the code above a bit (specifically using TextTestRunner and defaultTestLoader), I was able to get pretty close. Eventually I fixed my code by also just passing all test suites to a single suites constructor, rather than adding them "manually", which fixed my other problems. So here is my solution.

import glob
import unittest

test_files = glob.glob('test_*.py')
module_strings = [test_file[0:len(test_file)-3] for test_file in test_files]
suites = [unittest.defaultTestLoader.loadTestsFromName(test_file) for test_file in module_strings]
test_suite = unittest.TestSuite(suites)
test_runner = unittest.TextTestRunner().run(test_suite)

Yeah, it is probably easier to just use nose than to do this, but that is besides the point.

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If you want to run all the tests from various test case classes and you're happy to specify them explicitly then you can do it like this:

from unittest import TestLoader, TextTestRunner, TestSuite
from uclid.test.test_symbols import TestSymbols
from uclid.test.test_patterns import TestPatterns

if __name__ == "__main__":

    loader = TestLoader()
    tests = [
        loader.loadTestsFromTestCase(test)
        for test in (TestSymbols, TestPatterns)
    ]
    suite = TestSuite(tests)

    runner = TextTestRunner(verbosity=2)
    runner.run(suite)

where uclid is my project and TestSymbols and TestPatterns are subclasses of TestCase.

---

I have used the discover method and an overloading of load_tests to achieve this result in a (minimal, I think) number lines of code:

def load_tests(loader, tests, pattern):
''' Discover and load all unit tests in all files named ``*_test.py`` in ``./src/``
'''
    suite = TestSuite()
    for all_test_suite in unittest.defaultTestLoader.discover('src', pattern='*_tests.py'):
        for test_suite in all_test_suite:
            suite.addTests(test_suite)
    return suite

if __name__ == '__main__':
    unittest.main()

Execution on fives something like

Ran 27 tests in 0.187s
OK

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I tried various approaches but all seem flawed or I have to makeup some code, that's annoying. But there's a convinient way under linux, that is simply to find every test through certain pattern and then invoke them one by one.

find . -name 'Test*py' -exec python '{}' \;

and most importantly, it definitely works.

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In case of a packaged library or application, you don't want to do it. setuptools will do it for you.

To use this command, your project’s tests must be wrapped in a unittest test suite by either a function, a TestCase class or method, or a module or package containing TestCase classes. If the named suite is a module, and the module has an additional_tests() function, it is called and the result (which must be a unittest.TestSuite) is added to the tests to be run. If the named suite is a package, any submodules and subpackages are recursively added to the overall test suite.

Just tell it where your root test package is, like:

setup(
    # ...
    test_suite = 'somepkg.test'
)

And run python setup.py test.

File-based discovery may be problematic in Python 3, unless you avoid relative imports in your test suite, because discover uses file import. Even though it supports optional top_level_dir, but I had some infinite recursion errors. So a simple solution for a non-packaged code is to put the following in __init__.py of your test package (see load_tests Protocol).

import unittest

from . import foo, bar


def load_tests(loader, tests, pattern):
    suite = unittest.TestSuite()
    suite.addTests(loader.loadTestsFromModule(foo))
    suite.addTests(loader.loadTestsFromModule(bar))

    return suite

---

This is an old question, but what worked for me now (in 2019) is:

python -m unittest *_test.py

All my test files are in the same folder as the source files and they end with _test.

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I use PyDev/LiClipse and haven't really figured out how to run all tests at once from the GUI. (edit: you right click the root test folder and choose Run as -> Python unit-test

This is my current workaround:

import unittest

def load_tests(loader, tests, pattern):
    return loader.discover('.')

if __name__ == '__main__':
    unittest.main()

I put this code in a module called all in my test directory. If I run this module as a unittest from LiClipse then all tests are run. If I ask to only repeat specific or failed tests then only those tests are run. It doesn't interfere with my commandline test runner either (nosetests) -- it's ignored.

You may need to change the arguments to discover based on your project setup.

---

Based on the answer of Stephen Cagle I added support for nested test modules.

import fnmatch
import os
import unittest

def all_test_modules(root_dir, pattern):
    test_file_names = all_files_in(root_dir, pattern)
    return [path_to_module(str) for str in test_file_names]

def all_files_in(root_dir, pattern):
    matches = []

    for root, dirnames, filenames in os.walk(root_dir):
        for filename in fnmatch.filter(filenames, pattern):
            matches.append(os.path.join(root, filename))

    return matches

def path_to_module(py_file):
    return strip_leading_dots( \
        replace_slash_by_dot(  \
            strip_extension(py_file)))

def strip_extension(py_file):
    return py_file[0:len(py_file) - len('.py')]

def replace_slash_by_dot(str):
    return str.replace('\\', '.').replace('/', '.')

def strip_leading_dots(str):
    while str.startswith('.'):
       str = str[1:len(str)]
    return str

module_names = all_test_modules('.', '*Tests.py')
suites = [unittest.defaultTestLoader.loadTestsFromName(mname) for mname 
    in module_names]

testSuite = unittest.TestSuite(suites)
runner = unittest.TextTestRunner(verbosity=1)
runner.run(testSuite)

The code searches all subdirectories of . for *Tests.py files which are then loaded. It expects each *Tests.py to contain a single class *Tests(unittest.TestCase) which is loaded in turn and executed one after another.

This works with arbitrary deep nesting of directories/modules, but each directory in between needs to contain an empty __init__.py file at least. This allows the test to load the nested modules by replacing slashes (or backslashes) by dots (see replace_slash_by_dot).

---

I just created a discover.py file in my base test directory and added import statements for anything in my sub directories. Then discover is able to find all my tests in those directories by running it on discover.py

python -m unittest discover ./test -p '*.py'

# /test/discover.py
import unittest

from test.package1.mod1 import XYZTest
from test.package1.package2.mod2 import ABCTest
...

if __name__ == "__main__"
    unittest.main()

---

Because Test discovery seems to be a complete subject, there is some dedicated framework to test discovery :

nose

Py.Test

More reading here : https://wiki.python.org/moin/PythonTestingToolsTaxonomy

---

This BASH script will execute the python unittest test directory from ANYWHERE in the file system, no matter what working directory you are in: its working directory always be where that test directory is located.

ALL TESTS, independent $PWD

unittest Python module is sensitive to your current directory, unless you tell it where (using discover -s option).

This is useful when staying in the ./src or ./example working directory and you need a quick overall unit test:

#!/bin/bash
this_program="$0"
dirname="`dirname $this_program`"
readlink="`readlink -e $dirname`"

python -m unittest discover -s "$readlink"/test -v

SELECTED TESTS, independent $PWD

I name this utility file: runone.py and use it like this:

runone.py <test-python-filename-minus-dot-py-fileextension>

#!/bin/bash
this_program="$0"
dirname="`dirname $this_program`"
readlink="`readlink -e $dirname`"

(cd "$dirname"/test; python -m unittest $1)

No need for a test/__init__.py file to burden your package/memory-overhead during production.

---

Encountered the same issue.

The solution is to add an empty __init__.py to each folder and uses python -m unittest discover -s

Project Structure

tests/
  __init__.py
  domain/
    value_object/
      __init__.py
      test_name.py
    __init__.py
  presentation/
    __init__.py
    test_app.py

And running the command

python -m unittest discover -s tests/domain

To get the expected outcome

.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ran 1 test in 0.007s

---

I have no package and as mentioned on this page, this is creating issue while issing dicovery. So, I used the following solution. All the test result will be put in a given output folder.

RunAllUT.py:

"""
The given script is executing all the Unit Test of the project stored at the
path %relativePath2Src% currently fixed coded for the given project. 

Prerequired:
    - Anaconda should be install
    - For the current user, an enviornment called "mtToolsEnv" should exists
    - xmlrunner Library should be installed
"""

import sys
import os
import xmlrunner
from Repository import repository 

relativePath2Src="./../.."
pythonPath=r'"C:\Users\%USERNAME%\.conda\envs\YourConfig\python.exe"' 
outputTestReportFolder=os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))+r'\test-reports' #subfolder in current file path

class UTTesting():
    """
    Class tto run all the UT of the project
    """
    def __init__(self):
        """
        Initiate instance

        Returns
        -------
        None.

        """
        self.projectRepository = repository() 
        self.UTfile = [] #List all file
    
    def retrieveAllUT(self):
        """
        Generate the list of UT file in the project

        Returns
        -------
        None.

        """
        print(os.path.realpath(relativePath2Src))
        self.projectRepository.retriveAllFilePaths(relativePath2Src)
        #self.projectRepository.printAllFile() #debug
        for file2scan in self.projectRepository.devfile:
            if file2scan.endswith("_UT.py"):
                self.UTfile.append(file2scan)
                print(self.projectRepository.devfilepath[file2scan]+'/'+file2scan)
                
    
    def runUT(self,UTtoRun):
        """
        Run a single UT

        Parameters
        ----------
        UTtoRun : String
            File Name of the UT

        Returns
        -------
        None.

        """
        print(UTtoRun)
        if UTtoRun in self.projectRepository.devfilepath:
            UTtoRunFolderPath=os.path.realpath(os.path.join(self.projectRepository.devfilepath[UTtoRun]))
            UTtoRunPath = os.path.join(UTtoRunFolderPath, UTtoRun)
        print(UTtoRunPath)
        
        #set the correct execution context & run the test
        os.system(" cd " + UTtoRunFolderPath + \
                  " & " + pythonPath + " " + UTtoRunPath + " " + outputTestReportFolder )
        
        
    def runAllUT(self):
        """
        Run all the UT contained in self
        The function "retrieveAllUT" sjould ahve been performed before

        Returns
        -------
        None.

        """
        for UTfile in self.UTfile:
            self.runUT(UTfile)
                
    
                
if __name__ == "__main__":
    undertest=UTTesting()
    undertest.retrieveAllUT()
    undertest.runAllUT()

In my project specific, I have a class that I used in other script. This might be an overkill for your usecase.

Repository.py

import os

class repository():
    """
    Class that decribed folder and file in a repository 
    """
    def __init__(self):
        """
        Initiate instance

        Returns
        -------
        None.

        """
        self.devfile = [] #List all file
        self.devfilepath = {} #List all file paths

    def retriveAllFilePaths(self,pathrepo):
        """
        Retrive all files and their path in the class

        Parameters
        ----------
        pathrepo : Path used for the parsin

        Returns
        -------
        None.

        """
        for path, subdirs, files in os.walk(pathrepo):
            for file_name in files:
                self.devfile.append(file_name)
                self.devfilepath[file_name] = path
                
    def printAllFile(self):
        """
        Display all file with paths

        Parameters
        ----------
        def printAllFile : TYPE
            DESCRIPTION.

        Returns
        -------
        None.

        """
        for file_loop in self.devfile:
            print(self.devfilepath[file_loop]+'/'+file_loop)

In your test files, you need to have a main like this:

if __name__ == "__main__":
    import xmlrunner
    import sys
    
    if len(sys.argv) > 1:
        outputFolder = sys.argv.pop() #avoid conflic with unittest.main
    else:
        outputFolder = r'test-reports'
    print("Report will be created and store there: " + outputFolder)
    
    unittest.main(testRunner=xmlrunner.XMLTestRunner(output=outputFolder))

---

Here is my approach by creating a wrapper to run tests from the command line:

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import os, sys, unittest, argparse, inspect, logging

if __name__ == '__main__':
    # Parse arguments.
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(add_help=False)
    parser.add_argument("-?", "--help",     action="help",                        help="show this help message and exit" )
    parser.add_argument("-v", "--verbose",  action="store_true", dest="verbose",  help="increase output verbosity" )
    parser.add_argument("-d", "--debug",    action="store_true", dest="debug",    help="show debug messages" )
    parser.add_argument("-h", "--host",     action="store",      dest="host",     help="Destination host" )
    parser.add_argument("-b", "--browser",  action="store",      dest="browser",  help="Browser driver.", choices=["Firefox", "Chrome", "IE", "Opera", "PhantomJS"] )
    parser.add_argument("-r", "--reports-dir", action="store",   dest="dir",      help="Directory to save screenshots.", default="reports")
    parser.add_argument('files', nargs='*')
    args = parser.parse_args()

    # Load files from the arguments.
    for filename in args.files:
        exec(open(filename).read())

    # See: http://codereview.stackexchange.com/q/88655/15346
    def make_suite(tc_class):
        testloader = unittest.TestLoader()
        testnames = testloader.getTestCaseNames(tc_class)
        suite = unittest.TestSuite()
        for name in testnames:
            suite.addTest(tc_class(name, cargs=args))
        return suite

    # Add all tests.
    alltests = unittest.TestSuite()
    for name, obj in inspect.getmembers(sys.modules[__name__]):
        if inspect.isclass(obj) and name.startswith("FooTest"):
            alltests.addTest(make_suite(obj))

    # Set-up logger
    verbose = bool(os.environ.get('VERBOSE', args.verbose))
    debug   = bool(os.environ.get('DEBUG', args.debug))
    if verbose or debug:
        logging.basicConfig( stream=sys.stdout )
        root = logging.getLogger()
        root.setLevel(logging.INFO if verbose else logging.DEBUG)
        ch = logging.StreamHandler(sys.stdout)
        ch.setLevel(logging.INFO if 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)

    # Run tests.
    result = unittest.TextTestRunner(verbosity=2).run(alltests)
    sys.exit(not result.wasSuccessful())

For sake of simplicity, please excuse my non-PEP8 coding standards.

Then you can create BaseTest class for common components for all your tests, so each of your test would simply look like:

from BaseTest import BaseTest
class FooTestPagesBasic(BaseTest):
    def test_foo(self):
        driver = self.driver
        driver.get(self.base_url + "/")

To run, you simply specifying tests as part of the command line arguments, e.g.:

./run_tests.py -h http://example.com/ tests/**/*.py

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