How to output in CLI during execution of PHP Unit tests?

Question

When running a PHPUnit test, I would like to be able to dump output so I can debug one or two things.

I have tried the following (similar to the PHPUnit Manual examp

Answer 1

I output my Testresults HTML based, in this case it was helpfull to flush the content:

var_dump($array);
ob_flush();

There is a second PHP Method

flush() 

which i not has tried.

Answer 2

Here are few methods useful for printing debug messages in PHPUnit 4.x:

• syslog(LOG_DEBUG, "Debug: Message 1!");

  More practical example:

  syslog(LOG_DEBUG, sprintf("%s: Value: %s", __METHOD__, var_export($_GET, TRUE)));
  

  Calling syslog() will generate a system log message (see: man syslog.conf).

  ^{Note: Possible levels: LOG_DEBUG, LOG_INFO, LOG_NOTICE, LOG_WARNING, LOG_ERR, etc.}

  On macOS, to stream the syslog messages in realtime, run:

  log stream --level debug --predicate 'processImagePath contains "php"'
  

• fwrite(STDERR, "LOG: Message 2!\n");

  ^{Note: The STDERR constant is not available if reading the PHP script from stdin. Here is the workaround.}

  ^{Note: Instead of STDERR, you can also specify a filename.}

• file_put_contents('php://stderr', "LOG: Message 3!\n", FILE_APPEND);

  ^{Note: Use this method, if you don't have STDERR constant defined.}

• register_shutdown_function('file_put_contents', 'php://stderr', "LOG: Message 4!\n", FILE_APPEND);

  ^{Note: Use this method, if you'd like to print something at the very end without affecting the tests.}

To dump the variable, use var_export(), e.g. "Value: " . var_export($some_var, TRUE) . "\n".

To print above messages only during verbose or debug mode, see: Is there a way to tell if --debug or --verbose was passed to PHPUnit in a test?

---

Although if testing the output is part of the test it-self, check out: Testing Output docs page.

Answer 3

Update: See rdlowrey's update below regarding the use of fwrite(STDERR, print_r($myDebugVar, TRUE)); as a much simpler work around

---

This behaviour is intentional (as jasonbar has pointed out). The conflicting state of the manual has been reported to PHPUnit.

A work-around is to have PHPUnit assert the expected output is empty (when infact there is output) which will trigger the unexpected output to be shown.

class theTest extends PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
{
    /**
     * @outputBuffering disabled
     */
    public function testOutput() {
        $this->expectOutputString(''); // tell PHPUnit to expect '' as output
        print_r("Hello World");
        print "Ping";
        echo "Pong";
        $out = "Foo";
        var_dump($out);
    }   
}

gives:

PHPUnit @package_version@ by Sebastian Bergmann.

F

Time: 1 second, Memory: 3.50Mb

There was 1 failure:

1) theTest::testOutput
Failed asserting that two strings are equal.
--- Expected
+++ Actual
@@ @@
-''
+'Hello WorldPingPongstring(4) "Foo"
+'

FAILURES!
Tests: 1, Assertions: 1, Failures: 1.

Be certain to disable any other assertions you have for the test as they may fail before the output assertion is tested (and hence you wont see the output).

Answer 4

Try using --debug

Useful if you're trying to get the right path to an include or source data file.

Answer 5

It's not a bug, but very much intentional. Your best bet is to write to a log file of some kind and tail the log to watch for output.

If you are trying to TEST output, check this out.

Also:

Note: Please note that PHPUnit swallows all output that is emitted during the execution of a test. In strict mode, a test that emits output will fail.

Answer 6

Just use the --verbose flag when execute phpunit.

$ phpunit --verbose -c phpunit.xml 

The advantage of this method is that you don't need to change the test code, you can print strings, var_dump's o anything you wish always and it will be shown in the console only when verbose mode is set.

I hope this helps.