How to properly assert that an exception gets raised in pytest?

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.

Do you mean something like this:

def test_raises():
    with pytest.raises(Exception) as exc_info:   
        raise Exception('some info')
    # these asserts are identical; you can use either one   
    assert exc_info.value.args[0] == 'some info'
    assert str(exc_info.value) == 'some info'

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.

Note: This comment by ilya-rusin also suggests aforementioned approach.

There are two ways to handle these kind of cases in pytest:

• Using pytest.raises function

• Using pytest.mark.xfail decorator

As the documentation says:

Using pytest.raises is likely to be better for cases where you are testing exceptions your own code is deliberately raising, whereas using @pytest.mark.xfail with a check function is probably better for something like documenting unfixed bugs (where the test describes what “should” happen) or bugs in dependencies.

Usage of pytest.raises:

def whatever():
    return 9/0
def test_whatever():
    with pytest.raises(ZeroDivisionError):
        whatever()

Usage of pytest.mark.xfail:

@pytest.mark.xfail(raises=ZeroDivisionError)
def test_whatever():
    whatever()

Output of pytest.raises:

============================= test session starts ============================
platform linux2 -- Python 2.7.10, pytest-3.2.3, py-1.4.34, pluggy-0.4.0 -- 
/usr/local/python_2.7_10/bin/python
cachedir: .cache
rootdir: /home/user, inifile:
collected 1 item

test_fun.py::test_whatever PASSED


======================== 1 passed in 0.01 seconds =============================

Output of pytest.xfail marker:

============================= test session starts ============================
platform linux2 -- Python 2.7.10, pytest-3.2.3, py-1.4.34, pluggy-0.4.0 -- 
/usr/local/python_2.7_10/bin/python
cachedir: .cache
rootdir: /home/user, inifile:
collected 1 item

test_fun.py::test_whatever xfail

======================== 1 xfailed in 0.03 seconds=============================