How can I load fixtures from functional test in Symfony 2

If you use symfony's WebTestCase, there's actually a very easy way to load your fixtures. Your fixture has to implement the FixtureInterface; thus, you can call it's load() method directly in your test's setUp() method. You just have to pass an EntityManager to the load() method, which can be aquired from the symfony container:

public function setUp() {
    $client = static::createClient();
    $container = $client->getContainer();
    $doctrine = $container->get('doctrine');
    $entityManager = $doctrine->getManager();

    $fixture = new YourFixture();
    $fixture->load($entityManager);
}

I just wanted to offer a slightly neater approach if you want to first purge your table of previous test data, e.g. if you are running your tests in phpunit.

use Doctrine\Common\DataFixtures\Purger\ORMPurger;
use Doctrine\Common\DataFixtures\Executor\ORMExecutor;
use Doctrine\Common\DataFixtures\Loader;
use Namespace\FakeBundle\DataFixtures\ORM\YourFixtures;

public function setUp()
{
    static::$kernel = static::createKernel();
    static::$kernel->boot();
    $this->em = static::$kernel->getContainer()
        ->get('doctrine')
        ->getManager()
    ;

    $loader = new Loader();
    $loader->addFixture(new YourFixtures);

    $purger = new ORMPurger($this->em);
    $executor = new ORMExecutor($this->em, $purger);
    $executor->execute($loader->getFixtures());

    parent::setUp();
}

This allows fixtures to be loaded, (you can push more into the add fixture method), and purge the tables before they are loaded. Also note MongoDB has the same option using MongoDBPurger, and MongoDBExecutor. Hope it helps someone

You can load the fixtures in your test's setUp() method as you can see in this question.

You can use the code in the question but need to append --appendto the doctrine:fixtures:load command in order to avoid the confirmation by the fixtures-bundle.

The better solution is to have a look at the LiipFunctionalTestBundle which makes using data-fixtures easier.