How to test a function with input call?
As The Compiler suggested, pytest has a new monkeypatch fixture for this. A monkeypatch object can alter an attribute in a class or a value in a dictionary, and then restore its original value at the end of the test.
In this case, the built-in input
function is a value of python's __builtins__
dictionary, so we can alter it like so:
def test_something_that_involves_user_input(monkeypatch):
# monkeypatch the "input" function, so that it returns "Mark".
# This simulates the user entering "Mark" in the terminal:
monkeypatch.setattr('builtins.input', lambda _: "Mark")
# go about using input() like you normally would:
i = input("What is your name?")
assert i == "Mark"
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'