PHPUnit

PHPUnit is a widely-used testing framework for PHP, designed to support the practice of test-driven development (TDD) and to write and run unit tests for PHP applications. It is inspired by JUnit and has become an essential tool for PHP developers who aim to build robust and reliable software through systematic testing.

PHPUnit automates the process of running tests on PHP code, making it easier to perform continuous testing during development. It focuses on unit testing, where individual components or functions of an application are tested in isolation to ensure they work as expected.

Developers can organize tests into test cases and suites for better management and comprehensive testing coverage. PHPUnit provides a range of assertion methods to test expected outcomes of code execution, like asserting equality, truthiness, counts, and exceptions.

It supports the creation of mock objects and stubs, which simulate the behavior of real objects to isolate and test code dependencies. PHPUnit integrates with various development and continuous integration tools, enhancing the development workflow.

A simple PHPUnit test might look like this:

<?php
use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;

class SampleTest extends TestCase
{
    public function testAddition()
    {
        $this->assertEquals(4, 2 + 2, "Addition test");
    }
}

Info

The SampleTest class extends TestCase from PHPUnit. The testAddition method contains an assertion that checks if the addition of 2 and 2 equals 4.

To run PHPUnit tests, you typically use the PHPUnit command-line tool, specifying the tests to run. PHPUnit then executes the tests and provides a report on their success or failure.