php-src/docs/source/miscellaneous/writing-tests.rst

############
 Test Files
############

******************
 phpt Test Basics
******************

The first thing you need to know about tests is that we need more!!! Although PHP works just great
99.99% of the time, not having a very comprehensive test suite means that we take more risks every
time we add to or modify the PHP implementation. The second thing you need to know is that if you
can write PHP you can write tests. Thirdly — we are a friendly and welcoming community, don't be
scared about writing to (php-qa@lists.php.net) — we won't bite!

So what are phpt tests?

   A phpt test is a little script used by the php internal and quality assurance teams to test PHP's
   functionality. It can be used with new releases to make sure they can do all the things that
   previous releases can, or to help find bugs in current releases. By writing phpt tests you are
   helping to make PHP more stable.

What skills are needed to write a phpt test?

   All that is really needed to write a phpt test is a basic understanding of the PHP language, a
   text editor, and a way to get the results of your code. That is it. So if you have been writing
   and running PHP scripts already — you have everything you need.

What do you write phpt tests on?

   Basically you can write a phpt test on one of the various php functions available. You can write
   a test on a basic language function (a string function or an array function) , or a function
   provided by one of PHP's numerous extensions (a mysql function or a image function or a mcrypt
   function).

   You can find out what functions already have phpt tests by looking in the `html version
   <https://github.com/php/php-src>`_ of the git repository (``ext/standard/tests/`` is a good place
   to start looking — though not all the tests currently written are in there).

   If you want more guidance than that you can always ask the PHP Quality Assurance Team on their
   mailing list (php-qa@lists.php.net) where they would like you to direct your attentions.

How is a phpt test is used?

   When a test is called by the ``run-tests.php`` script it takes various parts of the phpt file to
   name and create a .php file. That .php file is then executed. The output of the .php file is then
   compared to a different section of the phpt file. If the output of the script "matches" the
   output provided in the phpt script — it passes.

What should a phpt test do?

   Basically — it should try and break the PHP function. It should check not only the functions
   normal parameters, but it should also check edge cases. Intentionally generating an error is
   allowed and encouraged.

********************
 Writing phpt Tests
********************

Naming Conventions
==================

Phpt tests follow a very strict naming convention. This is done to easily identify what each phpt
test is for. Tests should be named according to the following list:

Tests for bugs
   bug<bugid>.phpt (bug17123.phpt)

Tests for a function's basic behaviour
   <functionname>_basic.phpt (dba_open_basic.phpt)

Tests for a function's error behaviour
   <functionname>_error.phpt (dba_open_error.phpt)

Tests for variations in a function's behaviour
   <functionname>_variation.phpt (dba_open_variation.phpt)

General tests for extensions
   <extname><no>.phpt (dba_003.phpt)

The convention of using _basic, _error and _variation was introduced when we found that writing a
single test case for each function resulted in unacceptably large test cases. It's quite hard to
debug problems when the test case generates 100s of lines of output.

The "basic" test case for a function should just address the single most simple thing that the
function is designed to do. For example, if writing a test for the sin() function a basic test would
just be to check that sin() returns the correct values for some known angles — eg 30, 90, 180.

The "error" tests for a function are test cases which are designed to provoke errors, warnings or
notices. There can be more than one error case, if so the convention is to name the test cases
mytest_error1.phpt, mytest_error2.phpt and so on.

The "variation" tests are any tests that don't fit into "basic" or "error" tests. For example one
might use a variation tests to test boundary conditions.

How big is a test case?
=======================

Small. Really — the smaller the better, a good guide is no more than 10 lines of output. The reason
for this is that if we break something in PHP and it breaks your test case we need to be able to
find out quite quickly what we broke, going through 1000s of line of test case output is not easy.
Having said that it's sometimes just not practical to stay within the 10 line guideline, in this
case you can help a lot by commenting the output. You may find plenty of much longer tests in PHP -
the small tests message is something that we learnt over time, in fact we are slowly going through
and splitting tests up when we need to.

Comments
========

Comments help. Not an essay — just a couple of lines on what the objective of the test is. It may
seem completely obvious to you as you write it, but it might not be to someone looking at it later
on.

Basic Format
============

A test must contain the sections TEST, FILE and either EXPECT or EXPECTF at a minimum. The example
below illustrates a minimal test.

*ext/standard/tests/strings/strtr.phpt*

.. code:: php

   --TEST--
   strtr() function — basic test for strtr()
   --FILE--
   <?php
   /* Do not change this test it is a README.TESTING example. */
   $trans = array("hello"=>"hi", "hi"=>"hello", "a"=>"A", "world"=>"planet");
   var_dump(strtr("# hi all, I said hello world! #", $trans));
   ?>
   --EXPECT--
   string(32) "# hello All, I sAid hi planet! #"

As you can see the file is divided into several sections. The TEST section holds a one line title of
the phpt test, this should be a simple description and shouldn't ever excede one line, if you need
to write more explanation add comments in the body of the test case. The phpt files name is used
when generating a .php file. The FILE section is used as the body of the .php file, so don't forget
to open and close your php tags. The EXPECT section is the part used as a comparison to see if the
test passes. It is a good idea to generate output with var_dump() calls.

PHPT structure details
======================

A phpt test can have many more parts than just the minimum. In fact some of the mandatory parts have
alternatives that may be used if the situation warrants it. The phpt sections are documented here.

Analyzing failing tests
=======================

While writing tests you will probably run into tests not passing while you think they should. The
'make test' command provides you with debug information. Several files will be added per test in the
same directory as the .phpt file itself. Considering your test file is named foo.phpt, these files
provide you with information that can help you find out what went wrong:

foo.diff

   A diff file between the expected output (be it in EXPECT, EXPECTF or another option) and the
   actual output.

foo.exp

   The expected output.

foo.log

   A log containing expected output, actual output and results. Most likely very similar to info in
   the other files.

foo.out

   The actual output of your .phpt test part.

foo.php

   The php code that was executed for this test.

foo.sh

   An executable file that executes the test for you as it was executed during failure.

Testing your test cases
=======================

Most people who write tests for PHP don't have access to a huge number of operating systems but the
tests are run on every system that runs PHP. It's good to test your test on as many platforms as you
can — Linux and Windows are the most important, it's increasingly important to make sure that tests
run on 64 bit as well as 32 bit platforms. If you only have access to one operating system — don't
worry, if you have karma, commit the test but watch php-qa@lists.php.net for reports of failures on
other platforms. If you don't have karma to commit have a look at the next section.

When you are testing your test case it's really important to make sure that you clean up any
temporary resources (eg files) that you used in the test. There is a special ``--CLEAN--`` section
to help you do this — see here.

Another good check is to look at what lines of code in the PHP source your test case covers. This is
easy to do, there are some instructions on the PHP Wiki.

What should I do with my test case when I've written and tested it?
===================================================================

The next step is to get someone to review it. If it's short you can paste it into a note and send it
to php-qa@lists.php.net. If the test is a bit too long for that then put it somewhere were people
can download it (pastebin is sometimes used). Appending tests to notes as files doesn't work well -
so please don't do that. Your note to php-qa@lists.php.net should say what level of PHP you have
tested it on and what platform(s) you've run it on. Someone from the PHP QA group will review your
test and reply to you. They may ask for some changes or suggest better ways to do things, or they
may commit it to PHP.

Writing Portable PHP Tests
==========================

Writing portable tests can be hard if you don't have access to all the many platforms that PHP can
run on. Do your best. If in doubt, don't disable a test. It is better that the test runs in as many
environments as possible.

If you know a new test won't run in a specific environment, try to write the complementary test for
that environment.

Make sure sets of data are consistently ordered. SQL queries are not guaranteed to return results in
the same order unless an ORDER BY clause is used. Directory listings are another example that can
vary: use an appropriate PHP function to sort them befor printing. Both of these examples have
affected PHP tests in the past.

Make sure that any test touching parsing or display of dates uses a hard-defined timezone -
preferable 'UTC'. It is important tha this is defined in the file section using:

.. code:: php

   date_default_timezone_set('UTC');

and not in the INI section. This is because of the order in which settings are checked which is:

.. code::

   date_default_timezone_set() -> TZ environmental -> INI setting -> System Setting

If a TZ environmental varaibale is found the INI setting will be ignored.

Tests that run, or only have have matching EXPECT output, on 32bit platforms can use a SKIPIF
section like:

.. code:: php

   --SKIPIF--
   <?php
   if (PHP_INT_SIZE != 4) die("skip this test is for 32bit platforms only");
   ?>

Tests for 64bit platforms can use:

.. code:: php

   --SKIPIF--
   <?php
   if (PHP_INT_SIZE != 8) die("skip this test is for 64bit platforms only");
   ?>

To run a test only on Windows:

.. code:: php

   --SKIPIF--
   <?php
   if (substr(PHP_OS, 0, 3) != 'WIN') die("skip this test is for Windows platforms only");
   ?>

To run a test only on Linux:

.. code:: php

   --SKIPIF--
   <?php
   if (!stristr(PHP_OS, "Linux")) die("skip this test is Linux platforms only");
   ?>

To skip a test on Mac OS X Darwin:

.. code:: php

   --SKIPIF--
   <?php
   if (!stristr(PHP_OS, "Darwin")) die("skip this test is for Mac OS X platforms only");
   ?>

**********
 Examples
**********

EXPECTF
=======

/ext/standard/tests/strings/str_shuffle.phpt is a good example for using EXPECTF instead of EXPECT.
From time to time the algorithm used for shuffle changed and sometimes the machine used to execute
the code has influence on the result of shuffle. But it always returns a three character string
detectable by %s (that matches any string until the end of the line). Other scan-able forms are %a
for any amount of chars (at least one), %i for integers, %d for numbers only, %f for floating point
values, %c for single characters, %x for hexadecimal values, %w for any number of whitespace
characters and %e for DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR ('\' or '/').

See also EXPECTF details

*/ext/standard/tests/strings/str_shuffle.phpt*

.. code:: php

   --TEST--
   Testing str_shuffle.
   --FILE--
   <?php
   /* Do not change this test it is a README.TESTING example. */
   $s = '123';
   var_dump(str_shuffle($s));
   var_dump($s);
   ?>
   --EXPECTF--
   string(3) "%s"
   string(3) "123"

EXPECTREGEX
===========

/ext/standard/tests/strings/strings001.phpt is a good example for using EXPECTREGEX instead of
EXPECT. This test also shows that in EXPECTREGEX some characters need to be escaped since otherwise
they would be interpreted as a regular expression.

*/ext/standard/tests/strings/strings001.phpt*

.. code:: php

   --TEST--
   Test whether strstr() and strrchr() are binary safe.
   --FILE--
   <?php
   /* Do not change this test it is a README.TESTING example. */
   $s = "alabala nica".chr(0)."turska panica";
   var_dump(strstr($s, "nic"));
   var_dump(strrchr($s," nic"));
   ?>
   --EXPECTREGEX--
   string\(18\) \"nica\x00turska panica\"
   string\(19\) \" nica\x00turska panica\"

EXTENSIONS
==========

Some tests depend on PHP extensions that may be unavailable. These extensions should be listed in
the EXTENSIONS section. If an extension is missing, PHP will try to find it in a shared module and
skip the test if it's not there.

*/ext/sodium/tests/crypto_scalarmult.phpt*

.. code:: php

   --TEST--
   Check for libsodium scalarmult
   --EXTENSIONS--
   sodium
   --FILE--
   <?php
   $n = sodium_hex2bin("5dab087e624a8a4b79e17f8b83800ee66f3bb1292618b6fd1c2f8b27ff88e0eb");

SKIPIF
======

Some tests depend on modules or functions available only in certain versions or they even require
minimum version of php or zend. These tests should be skipped when the requirement cannot be
fulfilled. To achieve this you can use the SKIPIF section. To tell ``run-tests.php`` that your test
should be skipped the SKIPIF section must print out the word "skip" followed by a reason why the
test should skip.

*ext/sodium/tests/pwhash_argon2i.phpt*

.. code:: php

   --TEST--
   Check for libsodium argon2i
   --EXTENSIONS--
   sodium
   --SKIPIF--
   <?php
   if (!defined('SODIUM_CRYPTO_PWHASH_SALTBYTES')) print "skip libsodium without argon2i";
   ?>
   --FILE--
   [snip]

Test script and SKIPIF code should be directly written into \*.phpt. However, it is recommended to
use include files when more test scripts depend on the same SKIPIF code or when certain test files
need the same values for some input.

Note: no file used by any test should have one of the following extensions: ".php", ".log", ".mem",
".exp", ".out" or ".diff". When you use an include file for the SKIPIF section it should be named
"skipif.inc" and an include file used in the FILE section of many tests should be named "test.inc".

*************
 Final Notes
*************

Cleaning up after running a test
================================

Sometimes test cases create files or directories as part of the test case and it's important to
remove these after the test ends, the ``--CLEAN--`` section is provided to help with this.

The PHP code in the ``--CLEAN--`` section is executed separately from the code in the ``--FILE--``
section. For example, this code:

.. code:: php

   --TEST--
   Will fail to clean up
   --FILE--
   <?php
             $temp_filename = "fred.tmp";
             $fp = fopen($temp_filename, "w");
             fwrite($fp, "Hello Boys!");
             fclose($fp);
   ?>
   --CLEAN--
   <?php
             unlink($temp_filename);
   ?>
   --EXPECT--

will not remove the temporary file because the variable $temp_filename is not defined in the
``--CLEAN--`` section.

Here is a better way to write the code:

.. code:: php

   --TEST--
   This will remove temporary files
   --FILE--
   <?php
           $temp_filename = __DIR__."/fred.tmp";
           $fp = fopen($temp_filename, "w");
           fwrite ($fp, "Hello Boys!\n");
           fclose($fp);
   ?>
   --CLEAN--
   <?php
           $temp_filename = __DIR__."/fred.tmp";
           unlink($temp_filename);
   ?>
   --EXPECT--

Note the use of the __DIR__ construct which will ensure that the temporary file is created in the
same directory as the phpt test script.

When creating temporary files it is a good idea to use an extension that indicates the use of the
file, eg .tmp. It's also a good idea to avoid using extensions that are already used for other
purposes, eg .inc, .php. Similarly, it is helpful to give the temporary file a name that is clearly
related to the test case. For example, mytest.phpt should create mytest.tmp (or mytestN.tmp, N=1,
2,3,...) then if by any chance the temporary file isnt't removed properly it will be obvious which
test case created it.

When writing and debugging a test case with a --CLEAN-- section it is helpful to remember that the
php code in the --CLEAN-- section is executed separately from the code in the --FILE-- section. For
example, in a test case called mytest.phpt, code from the --FILE-- section is run from a file called
mytest.php and code from the --CLEAN-- section is run from a file called mytest.clean.php. If the
test passes, both the .php and .clean.php files are removed by ``run-tests.php``. You can prevent
the removal by using the --keep option of ``run-tests.php``, this is a very useful option if you
need to check that the --CLEAN-- section code is working as you intended.

Finally — if you are using CVS it's helpful to add the extension that you use for test-related
temporary files to the .cvsignore file — this will help to prevent you from accidentally checking
temporary files into CVS.

Redirecting tests
=================

Using ``--REDIRECTTEST--`` it is possible to redirect from one test to a bunch of other tests. That
way multiple extensions can refer to the same set of test scripts probably using it with a different
configuration.

The block is eval'd and supposed to return an array describing how to redirect. The resulting array
must contain the key 'TEST' that stores the redirect target as a string. This string usually is the
directory where the test scripts are located and should be relative. Optionally you can use the
'ENV' as an array configuring the environment to be set when executing the tests. This way you can
pass configuration to the executed tests.

Redirect tests may especially contain ``--SKIPIF--``, ``--ENV--``, and ``--ARGS--`` sections but
they no not use any ``--EXPECT--`` section.

The redirected tests themselves are just normal tests.

Error reporting in tests
========================

All tests should run correctly with error_reporting(E_ALL) and display_errors=1. This is the default
when called from ``run-tests.php``. If you have a good reason for lowering the error reporting, use
``--INI--`` section and comment this in your testcode.

If your test intentionally generates a PHP warning message use $php_errormsg variable, which you can
then output. This will result in a consistent error message output across all platforms and PHP
configurations, preventing your test from failing due inconsistencies in the error message content.
Alternatively you can use ``--EXPECTF--`` and check for the message by replacing the path of the
source of the message with "%s" and the line number with "%d". The end of a message in a test file
"example.phpt" then looks like "in %sexample.php on line %d". We explicitly dropped the last path
devider as that is a system dependent character '/' or '\'.

Last bit
========

Often you want to run test scripts without ``run-tests.php`` by executing them on command line like
any other php script. But sometimes it disturbs having a long ``--EXPECT--`` block, so that you
don't see the actual output as it scrolls away overwritten by the blocks following the actual file
block. The workaround is to use terminate the ``--FILE--`` section with the two lines ``===DONE===``
and ``<?php exit(0); ?>``. When doing so ``run-tests.php`` does not execute the line containing the
exit call as that would suppress leak messages. Actually ``run-tests.php`` ignores any part after a
line consisting only of ``===DONE===``.

Here is an example:

.. code:: php

   --TEST--
   Test hypot() — dealing with mixed number/character input
   --INI--
   precision=14
   --FILE--
   <?php
   $a="23abc";
   $b=-33;
   echo "$a :$b ";
   $res = hypot($a, $b);
   var_dump($res);
   ?>
   ===DONE===
   <?php exit(0); ?>
   --EXPECTF--
   23abc :-33 float(40.224370722238)
   ===DONE===

If executed as PHP script the output will stop after the code on the ``--FILE--`` section has been
run.

***********
 Reference
***********

PHPT Sections
=============

``--TEST--``
------------

**Description:** Title of test as a single line short description.

**Required:** Yes

**Format:** Plain text. We recommend a single line only.

Example 1 (snippet):

.. code:: text

   --TEST--
   Test filter_input() with GET and POST data.

Example 1 (full): sample001.phpt

``--DESCRIPTION--``
-------------------

**Description:** If your test requires more than a single line title to adequately describe it, you
can use this section for further explanation. Multiple lines are allowed and besides being used for
information, this section is completely ignored by the test binary.

**Required:** No

**Format:** Plain text, multiple lines.

Example 1 (snippet):

.. code:: text

   --DESCRIPTION--
   This test covers both valid and invalid usages of filter_input() with INPUT_GET and INPUT_POST data and several differnet filter sanitizers.

Example 1 (full): sample001.phpt

``--CREDITS--``
---------------

**Description:** Used to credit contributors without CVS commit rights, who put their name and email
on the first line. If the test was part of a TestFest event, then # followed by the name of the
event and the date (YYYY-MM-DD) on the second line.

**Required:** No. For newly created tests this section should no longer be included, as test
authorship is already accurately tracked by Git. If multiple authors should be credited, the
`Co-authored-by` tag in the commit message may be used.

**Format:** Name Email [Event]

Example 1 (snippet):

.. code:: text

   --CREDITS--
   Felipe Pena

Example 1 (full): sample001.phpt

Example 2 (snippet):

.. code:: text

   --CREDITS--
   Zoe Slattery zoe@php.net
   # TestFest Munich 2009-05-19

Example 2 (full): sample002.phpt

``--SKIPIF--``
--------------

**Description:** A condition or set of conditions used to determine if a test should be skipped.
Tests that are only applicable to a certain platform, extension or PHP version are good reasons for
using a ``--SKIPIF--`` section.

A common practice for extension tests is to write your ``--SKIPIF--`` extension criteria into a file
call skipif.inc and then including that file in the ``--SKIPIF--`` section of all your extension
tests. This promotes the DRY principle and reduces future code maintenance.

**Required:** No.

**Format:** PHP code enclosed by PHP tags. If the output of this scripts starts with "skip", the
test is skipped. If the output starts with "xfail", the test is marked as expected failure. If the
output starts with "flaky", the test is marked as flaky test. The "xfail" convention is supported as
of PHP 7.2.0. The "flaky" convention is supported as of PHP 8.2.25 and PHP 8.3.13, respectively.

Example 1 (snippet):

.. code:: php

   --SKIPIF--
   <?php if (!extension_loaded("filter")) die("Skipped: filter extension required."); ?>

Example 1 (full): sample001.phpt

Example 2 (snippet):

.. code:: php

   --SKIPIF--
   <?php include('skipif.inc'); ?>

Example 2 (full): sample003.phpt

Example 3 (snippet):

.. code:: php

   --SKIPIF--
   <?php if (getenv('SKIP_ASAN')) die('xfail Startup failure leak'); ?>

Example 3 (full): xfailif.phpt

Example 4 (snippet):

.. code:: php

   --SKIPIF--
   <?php
   if (getenv("GITHUB_ACTIONS") && PHP_OS_FAMILY === "Darwin") {
           die("flaky Occasionally segfaults on macOS for unknown reasons");
   }

Example 4 (full): flakyif.phpt

``--CONFLICTS--``
-----------------

**Description:** This section is only relevant for parallel test execution (available as of PHP
7.4.0), and allows to specify conflict keys. While a test that conflicts with key K is running, no
other test that conflicts with K is run. For tests conflicting with "all", no other tests are run in
parallel.

An alternative to have a ``--CONFLICTS--`` section is to add a file named ``CONFLICTS`` to the
directory containing the tests. The contents of the ``CONFLICTS`` file must have the same format as
the contents of the ``--CONFLICTS--`` section.

**Required:** No.

**Format:** One conflict key per line. Comment lines starting with # are also allowed.

Example 1 (snippet):

.. code:: text

   --CONFLICTS--
   server

Example 1 (full): conflicts_1.phpt

``--WHITESPACE_SENSITIVE--``
----------------------------

**Description:** This flag is used to indicate that the test should not be changed by automated
formatting changes. Available as of PHP 7.4.3.

**Required:** No.

**Format:** No value, just the ``--WHITESPACE_SENSITIVE--`` statement.

``--CAPTURE_STDIO--``
---------------------

**Description:** This section enables which I/O streams the ``run-tests.php`` test script will use
when comparing executed file to the expected output. The ``STDIN`` is the standard input stream.
When ``STDOUT`` is enabled, the test script will also check the contents of the standard output.
``When STDERR`` is enabled, the test script will also compare the contents of the standard error I/O
stream.

If this section is left out of the test, by default, all three streams are enabled, so the tests
without this section capture all and is the same as enabling all three manually.

**Required:** No.

**Format:** A case insensitive space, newline or otherwise delimited list of one or more strings of
STDIN, STDOUT, and/or STDERR.

Example 1 (snippet):

.. code:: text

   --CAPTURE_STDIO--
   STDIN STDERR

Example 1 (full): capture_stdio_1.phpt

Example 2 (snippet):

.. code:: text

   --CAPTURE_STDIO--
   STDIN STDOUT

Example 2 (full): capture_stdio_2.phpt

Example 3 (snippet):

.. code:: text

   --CAPTURE_STDIO--
   STDIN STDOUT STDERR

Example 3(full): capture_stdio_3.phpt

``--EXTENSIONS--``
------------------

**Description:** Additional required shared extensions to be loaded when running the test. When the
``run-tests.php`` script is executed it loads all the extensions that are available and enabled for
that particular PHP at the time. If the test requires additional extension to be loaded and they
aren't loaded prior to running the test, this section loads them.

**Required:** No.

**Format:** A case sensitive newline separated list of extension names.

Example 1 (snippet):

.. code:: text

   --EXTENSIONS--
   curl
   imagick
   tokenizer

Example 1 (full): extensions.phpt

``--POST--``
------------

**Description:** POST variables or data to be passed to the test script. This section forces the use
of the CGI binary instead of the usual CLI one.

**Required:** No.

Requirements: PHP CGI binary.

**Format:** Follows the HTTP post data format.

Example 1 (snippet):

.. code:: text

   --POST--
   c=<p>string</p>&d=12345.7

Example 1 (full): sample001.phpt

Example 2 (snippet):

.. code:: xml

   --POST--
   <SOAP-ENV:Envelope
     SOAP-ENV:encodingStyle="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/"
     xmlns:SOAP-ENV="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
     xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
     xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
     xmlns:si="http://soapinterop.org/xsd">
     <SOAP-ENV:Body>
           <ns1:test xmlns:ns1="http://testuri.org" />
     </SOAP-ENV:Body>
   </SOAP-ENV:Envelope>

Example 2 (full): sample005.phpt

``--POST_RAW--``
----------------

**Description:** Raw POST data to be passed to the test script. This differs from the section above
because it doesn't automatically set the Content-Type, this leaves you free to define your own
within the section. This section forces the use of the CGI binary instead of the usual CLI one.

**Required:** No.

Requirements: PHP CGI binary.

**Test Script Support:** ``run-tests.php``

**Format:** Follows the HTTP post data format.

Example 1 (snippet):

.. code:: text

   --POST_RAW--
   Content-type: multipart/form-data, boundary=AaB03x

   --AaB03x content-disposition: form-data; name="field1"

   Joe Blow
   --AaB03x
   content-disposition: form-data; name="pics"; filename="file1.txt"
   Content-Type: text/plain

   abcdef123456789
   --AaB03x--

Example 1 (full): sample006.phpt

``--PUT--``
-----------

**Description:** Similar to the section above, PUT data to be passed to the test script. This
section forces the use of the CGI binary instead of the usual CLI one.

**Required:** No.

Requirements: PHP CGI binary.

**Test Script Support:** ``run-tests.php``

**Format:** Raw data optionally preceded by a Content-Type header.

Example 1 (snippet):

.. code:: text

   --PUT--
   Content-Type: text/json

   {"name":"default output handler","type":0,"flags":112,"level":0,"chunk_size":0,"buffer_size":16384,"buffer_used":3}

``--GZIP_POST--``
-----------------

**Description:** When this section exists, the POST data will be gzencode()'d. This section forces
the use of the CGI binary instead of the usual CLI one.

**Required:** No.

**Test Script Support:** ``run-tests.php``

**Format:** Just add the content to be gzencode()'d in the section.

Example 1 (snippet):

.. code:: xml

   --GZIP_POST--
   <SOAP-ENV:Envelope
     SOAP-ENV:encodingStyle="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/"
     xmlns:SOAP-ENV="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
     xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
     xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
     xmlns:si="http://soapinterop.org/xsd">
     <SOAP-ENV:Body>
           <ns1:test xmlns:ns1="http://testuri.org" />
     </SOAP-ENV:Body>
   </SOAP-ENV:Envelope>

Example 1 (full): sample005.phpt

``--DEFLATE_POST--``
--------------------

**Description:** When this section exists, the POST data will be gzcompress()'ed. This section
forces the use of the CGI binary instead of the usual CLI one.

**Required:** No.

Requirements:

**Test Script Support:** ``run-tests.php``

**Format:** Just add the content to be gzcompress()'ed in the section.

Example 1 (snippet):

.. code:: xml

   --DEFLATE_POST--
   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
   <SOAP-ENV:Envelope
     SOAP-ENV:encodingStyle="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/"
     xmlns:SOAP-ENV="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
     xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
     xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
     xmlns:si="http://soapinterop.org/xsd">
     <SOAP-ENV:Body>
           <ns1:test xmlns:ns1="http://testuri.org" />
     </SOAP-ENV:Body>
   </SOAP-ENV:Envelope>

Example 1 (full): sample007.phpt

``--GET--``
-----------

**Description:** GET variables to be passed to the test script. This section forces the use of the
CGI binary instead of the usual CLI one.

**Required:** No.

Requirements: PHP CGI binary.

**Format:** A single line of text passed as the GET data to the script.

Example 1 (snippet):

.. code:: text

   --GET--
   a=<b>test</b>&b=http://example.com

Example 1 (full): sample001.phpt

Example 2 (snippet):

.. code:: text

   --GET--
   ar[elm1]=1234&ar[elm2]=0660&a=0234

Example 2 (full): sample008.phpt

``--COOKIE--``
--------------

**Description:** Cookies to be passed to the test script. This section forces the use of the CGI
binary instead of the usual CLI one.

**Required:** No.

Requirements: PHP CGI binary.

**Test Script Support:** ``run-tests.php``

**Format:** A single line of text in a valid HTTP cookie format.

Example 1 (snippet):

.. code::

   --COOKIE--
   hello=World;goodbye=MrChips

Example 1 (full): sample002.phpt

``--STDIN--``
-------------

**Description:** Data to be fed to the test script's standard input.

**Required:** No.

**Test Script Support:** ``run-tests.php``

**Format:** Any text within this section is passed as STDIN to PHP.

Example 1 (snippet):

.. code:: text

   --STDIN--
   fooBar
   use this to input some thing to the php script

Example 1 (full): sample009.phpt

``--INI--``
-----------

**Description:** To be used if you need a specific php.ini setting for the test.

**Required:** No.

**Format:** Key value pairs including automatically replaced tags. One setting per line. Content
that is not a valid ini setting may cause failures.

The following is a list of all tags and what they are used to represent:

-  ``{PWD}``: Represents the directory of the file containing the ``--INI--`` section.
-  ``{TMP}``: Represents the system's temporary directory. Available as of PHP 7.2.19 and 7.3.6.

Example 1 (snippet):

.. code:: text

   --INI--
   precision=14

Example 1 (full): sample001.phpt

Example 2 (snippet):

.. code:: text

   --INI--
   session.use_cookies=0
   session.cache_limiter=
   register_globals=1
   session.serialize_handler=php
   session.save_handler=files

Example 2 (full): sample003.phpt

``--ARGS--``
------------

**Description:** A single line defining the arguments passed to PHP.

**Required:** No.

**Format:** A single line of text that is passed as the argument(s) to the PHP CLI.

Example 1 (snippet):

.. code:: text

   --ARGS--
   --arg value --arg=value -avalue -a=value -a value

Example 1 (full): sample010.phpt

``--ENV--``
-----------

**Description:** Configures environment variables such as those found in the ``$_SERVER`` global
array.

**Required:** No.

**Format:** Key value pairs. One setting per line.

Example 1 (snippet):

.. code:: text

   --ENV--
   SCRIPT_NAME=/frontcontroller10.php
   REQUEST_URI=/frontcontroller10.php/hi
   PATH_INFO=/hi

Example 1 (full): sample018.phpt

``--PHPDBG--``
--------------

**Description:** This section takes arbitrary phpdbg commands and executes the test file according
to them as it would be run in the phpdbg prompt.

**Required:** No.

**Format:** Arbitrary phpdbg commands

Example 1 (snippet):

.. code:: text

   --PHPDBG--
   b
   4
   b
   del
   0
   b
   5
   r
   b
   del
   1
   r
   y
   q

Example 1 (full): phpdbg_1.phpt

``--FILE--``
------------

**Description:** The test source code.

**Required:** One of the ``FILE`` type sections is required.

**Format:** PHP source code enclosed by PHP tags.

Example 1 (snippet):

.. code:: php

   --FILE--
   <?php
   ini_set('html_errors', false);
   var_dump(filter_input(INPUT_GET, "a", FILTER_SANITIZE_STRIPPED));
   var_dump(filter_input(INPUT_GET, "b", FILTER_SANITIZE_URL));
   var_dump(filter_input(INPUT_GET, "a", FILTER_SANITIZE_SPECIAL_CHARS, array(1,2,3,4,5)));
   var_dump(filter_input(INPUT_GET, "b", FILTER_VALIDATE_FLOAT, new stdClass));
   var_dump(filter_input(INPUT_POST, "c", FILTER_SANITIZE_STRIPPED, array(5,6,7,8)));
   var_dump(filter_input(INPUT_POST, "d", FILTER_VALIDATE_FLOAT));
   var_dump(filter_input(INPUT_POST, "c", FILTER_SANITIZE_SPECIAL_CHARS));
   var_dump(filter_input(INPUT_POST, "d", FILTER_VALIDATE_INT));
   var_dump(filter_var(new stdClass, "d"));
   var_dump(filter_input(INPUT_POST, "c", "", ""));
   var_dump(filter_var("", "", "", "", ""));
   var_dump(filter_var(0, 0, 0, 0, 0));
   echo "Done\n";
   ?>

Example 1 (full): sample001.phpt

``--FILEEOF--``
---------------

**Description:** An alternative to ``--FILE--`` where any trailing line breaks (\n || \r || \r\n
found at the end of the section) are omitted. This is an extreme edge-case feature, so 99.99% of the
time you won't need this section.

**Required:** One of the ``FILE`` type sections is required.

**Test Script Support:** ``run-tests.php``

**Format:** PHP source code enclosed by PHP tags.

Example 1 (snippet):

.. code:: php

   --FILEEOF--
   <?php
   eval("echo 'Hello'; // comment");
   echo " World";
   //last line comment

Example 1 (full): sample011.phpt

``--FILE_EXTERNAL--``
---------------------

**Description:** An alternative to ``--FILE--``. This is used to specify that an external file
should be used as the ``--FILE--`` contents of the test file, and is designed for running the same
test file with different ini, environment, post/get or other external inputs. Basically it allows
you to DRY up some of your tests. The file must be in the same directory as the test file, or in a
subdirectory.

**Required:** One of the ``FILE`` type sections is required.

**Test Script Support:** ``run-tests.php``

**Format:** path/to/file. Single line.

Example 1 (snippet):

.. code:: text

   --FILE_EXTERNAL--
   files/file012.inc

Example 1 (full): sample012.phpt

``--REDIRECTTEST--``
--------------------

**Description:** This block allows you to redirect from one test to a bunch of other tests. It also
allows you to set configurations which are used on all tests in your destination.

**Required:** One of the ``FILE`` type sections is required.

**Test Script Support:** ``run-tests.php``

**Format:** PHP source which is run through ``eval()``. The tests destination is the value of an
array index 'TESTS'. Also, keep in mind, you can not use a ``REDIRECTTEST`` which is being pointed
to by another test which contains a ``REDIRECTTEST``. In other words, no nesting.

The relative path declared in 'TESTS' is relative to the base directory for the PHP source code, not
relative to the current directory.

Last note, the array in this section must be returned to work.

Example 1 (snippet):

.. code:: php

   --REDIRECTTEST--
   return array(
     'ENV' => array(
             'PDOTEST_DSN' => 'sqlite2::memory:'
           ),
     'TESTS' => 'ext/pdo/tests'
     );

Example 1 (full): sample013.phpt Note: The destination tests for this example are not included. See
the PDO extension tests for reference to live tests using this section.

Example 2 (snippet):

.. code:: php

   --REDIRECTTEST--
   # magic auto-configuration

   $config = array(
     'TESTS' => 'ext/pdo/tests'
   );

   if (false !== getenv('PDO_MYSQL_TEST_DSN')) {
     # user set them from their shell
     $config['ENV']['PDOTEST_DSN'] = getenv('PDO_MYSQL_TEST_DSN');
     $config['ENV']['PDOTEST_USER'] = getenv('PDO_MYSQL_TEST_USER');
     $config['ENV']['PDOTEST_PASS'] = getenv('PDO_MYSQL_TEST_PASS');
     if (false !== getenv('PDO_MYSQL_TEST_ATTR')) {
           $config['ENV']['PDOTEST_ATTR'] = getenv('PDO_MYSQL_TEST_ATTR');
     }
   } else {
     $config['ENV']['PDOTEST_DSN'] = 'mysql:host=localhost;dbname=test';
     $config['ENV']['PDOTEST_USER'] = 'root';
     $config['ENV']['PDOTEST_PASS'] = '';
   }

   return $config;

Example 2 (full): sample014.phpt

Note: The destination tests for this example are not included. See the PDO extension tests for
reference to live tests using this section.

``--CGI--``
-----------

**Description:** This section takes no value. It merely provides a simple marker for tests that MUST
be run as CGI, even if there is no ``--POST--`` or ``--GET--`` sections in the test file.

**Required:** No.

**Format:** No value, just the ``--CGI--`` statement.

Example 1 (snippet):

.. code:: text

   --CGI--

Example 1 (full): sample016.phpt

``--XFAIL--``
-------------

**Description:** This section identifies this test as one that is currently expected to fail. It
should include a brief description of why it's expected to fail. Reasons for such expectations
include tests that are written before the functionality they are testing is implemented or notice of
a bug which is due to upstream code such as an extension which provides PHP support for some other
software.

Please do NOT include an ``--XFAIL--`` without providing a text description for the reason it's
being used.

**Required:** No.

**Test Script Support:** ``run-tests.php``

**Format:** A short plain text description of why this test is currently expected to fail.

Example 1 (snippet):

.. code:: text

   --XFAIL--
   This bug might be still open on aix5.2-ppc64 and hpux11.23-ia64

Example 1 (full): sample017.phpt

``--FLAKY--``
-------------

**Description:** This section identifies this test as one that occassionally fails. If the test
actually fails, it will be retried one more time, and that result will be reported. The section
should include a brief description of why the test is flaky. Reasons for this include tests that
rely on relatively precise timing, or temporary disc states. Available as of PHP 8.1.22 and 8.2.9,
respectively.

Please do NOT include a ``--FLAKY--`` section without providing a text description for the reason it
is being used.

**Required:** No.

**Test Script Support:** ``run-tests.php``

**Format:** A short plain text description of why this test is flaky.

Example 1 (snippet):

.. code::

   --FLAKY--
   This test frequently fails in CI

Example 1 (full): flaky.phpt

``--EXPECTHEADERS--``
---------------------

**Description:** The expected headers. Any header specified here must exist in the response and have
the same value or the test fails. Additional headers found in the actual tests while running are
ignored.

**Required:** No.

**Format:** HTTP style headers. May include multiple lines.

Example 1 (snippet):

--EXPECTHEADERS-- Status: 404

Example 1 (snippet):

.. code:: text

   --EXPECTHEADERS--
   Content-type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
   Status: 403 Access Denied

Example 1 (full): sample018.phpt

Note: The destination tests for this example are not included. See the phar extension tests for
reference to live tests using this section.

``--EXPECT--``
--------------

**Description:** The expected output from the test script. This must match the actual output from
the test script exactly for the test to pass.

**Required:** One of the ``EXPECT`` type sections is required.

**Format:** Plain text. Multiple lines of text are allowed.

Example 1 (snippet):

.. code:: text

   --EXPECT--
   array(2) {
     ["hello"]=>
     string(5) "World"
     ["goodbye"]=>
     string(7) "MrChips"
   }

Example 1 (full): sample002.phpt

``--EXPECT_EXTERNAL--``
-----------------------

**Description:** Similar to to ``--EXPECT--`` section, but just stating a filename where to load the
expected output from.

**Required:** One of the ``EXPECT`` type sections is required.

**Test Script Support:** ``run-tests.php``

Example 1 (snippet):

.. code:: text

   --EXPECT_EXTERNAL--
   test001.expected.txt

*test001.expected.txt*

.. code:: php

   array(2) {
     ["hello"]=>
     string(5) "World"
     ["goodbye"]=>
     string(7) "MrChips"
   }

``--EXPECTF--``
---------------

**Description:** An alternative of ``--EXPECT--``. Where it differs from ``--EXPECT--`` is that it
uses a number of substitution tags for strings, spaces, digits, etc. that appear in test case output
but which may vary between test runs. The most common example of this is to use %s and %d to match
the file path and line number which are output by PHP Warnings.

**Required:** One of the ``EXPECT`` type sections is required.

**Format:** Plain text including tags which are inserted to represent different types of output
which are not guaranteed to have the same value on subsequent runs or when run on different
platforms.

The following is a list of all tags and what they are used to represent:

   -  ``%e``: Represents a directory separator, for example / on Linux.
   -  ``%s``: One or more of anything (character or white space) except the end of line character.
   -  ``%S``: Zero or more of anything (character or white space) except the end of line character.
   -  ``%a``: One or more of anything (character or white space) including the end of line
      character.
   -  ``%A``: Zero or more of anything (character or white space) including the end of line
      character.
   -  ``%w``: Zero or more white space characters.
   -  ``%i``: A signed integer value, for example +3142, -3142, 3142.
   -  ``%d``: An unsigned integer value, for example 123456.
   -  ``%x``: One or more hexadecimal character. That is, characters in the range 0-9, a-f, A-F.
   -  ``%f``: A floating point number, for example: 3.142, -3.142, 3.142E-10, 3.142e+10.
   -  ``%c``: A single character of any sort (.).
   -  ``%r...%r``: Any string (...) enclosed between two ``%r`` will be treated as a regular
      expression.

Example 1 (snippet):

.. code:: text

   --EXPECTF--
   string(4) "test"
   string(18) "http://example.com"
   string(27) "&#60;b&#62;test&#60;/b&#62;"

   Notice: Object of class stdClass could not be converted to int in %ssample001.php on line %d
   bool(false)
   string(6) "string"
   float(12345.7)
   string(29) "&#60;p&#62;string&#60;/p&#62;"
   bool(false)

   Warning: filter_var() expects parameter 2 to be long, string given in %s011.php on line %d
   NULL

   Warning: filter_input() expects parameter 3 to be long, string given in %s011.php on line %d
   NULL

   Warning: filter_var() expects at most 3 parameters, 5 given in %s011.php on line %d
   NULL

   Warning: filter_var() expects at most 3 parameters, 5 given in %s011.php on line %d
   NULL
   Done

Example 1 (full): sample001.phpt

Example 2 (snippet):

.. code:: text

   --EXPECTF--
   Warning: bzopen() expects exactly 2 parameters, 0 given in %s on line %d NULL

   Warning: bzopen(): '' is not a valid mode for bzopen(). Only 'w' and 'r' are supported. in %s on line %d
   bool(false)

   Warning: bzopen(): filename cannot be empty in %s on line %d
   bool(false)

   Warning: bzopen(): filename cannot be empty in %s on line %d
   bool(false)

   Warning: bzopen(): 'x' is not a valid mode for bzopen(). Only 'w' and 'r' are supported. in %s on line %d
   bool(false)

   Warning: bzopen(): 'rw' is not a valid mode for bzopen(). Only 'w' and 'r' are supported. in %s on line %d
   bool(false)

   Warning: bzopen(no_such_file): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in %s on line %d
   bool(false)
   resource(%d) of type (stream) Done

Example 2 (full): sample019.phpt

Example 3 (snippet):

.. code:: text

   --EXPECTF--
   object(DOMNodeList)#%d (0) {
   }
   int(0)
   bool(true)
   bool(true)
   string(0) ""
   bool(true)
   bool(true)
   bool(false)
   bool(false)

Example 2 (full): sample020.phpt

``--EXPECTF_EXTERNAL--``
------------------------

**Description:** Similar to to ``--EXPECTF--`` section, but like the ``--EXPECT_EXTERNAL--`` section
just stating a filename where to load the expected output from.

**Required:** One of the ``EXPECT`` type sections is required.

**Test Script Support:** ``run-tests.php``

``--EXPECTREGEX--``
-------------------

**Description:** An alternative of ``--EXPECT--``. This form allows the tester to specify the result
in a regular expression.

**Required:** One of the ``EXPECT`` type sections is required.

**Format:** Plain text including regular expression patterns which represent data that can vary
between subsequent runs of a test or when run on different platforms.

Example 1 (snippet):

.. code:: text

   --EXPECTREGEX--
   M_E       : 2.718281[0-9]*
   M_LOG2E   : 1.442695[0-9]*
   M_LOG10E  : 0.434294[0-9]*
   M_LN2     : 0.693147[0-9]*
   M_LN10    : 2.302585[0-9]*
   M_PI      : 3.141592[0-9]*
   M_PI_2    : 1.570796[0-9]*
   M_PI_4    : 0.785398[0-9]*
   M_1_PI    : 0.318309[0-9]*
   M_2_PI    : 0.636619[0-9]*
   M_SQRTPI  : 1.772453[0-9]*
   M_2_SQRTPI: 1.128379[0-9]*
   M_LNPI    : 1.144729[0-9]*
   M_EULER   : 0.577215[0-9]*
   M_SQRT2   : 1.414213[0-9]*
   M_SQRT1_2 : 0.707106[0-9]*
   M_SQRT3   : 1.732050[0-9]*

Example 1 (full): sample021.phpt

Example 2 (snippet):

.. code:: text

   --EXPECTF--
   *** Testing imap_append() : basic functionality ***
   Create a new mailbox for test
   Create a temporary mailbox and add 0 msgs
   .. mailbox '%s' created
   Add a couple of msgs to new mailbox {%s}INBOX.%s
   bool(true)
   bool(true)
   Msg Count after append : 2
   List the msg headers
   array(2) {
     [0]=>
     string(%d) "%w%s       1)%s webmaster@something. Test message (%d chars)"
     [1]=>
     string(%d) "%w%s       2)%s webmaster@something. Another test (%d chars)"
   }

Example 2 (full): sample025.phpt

Example 3 (snippet):

.. code:: text

   --EXPECTREGEX--
   string\(4\) \"-012\"
   string\(8\) \"2d303132\"
   (string\(13\) \"   4294967284\"|string\(20\) \"18446744073709551604\")
   (string\(26\) \"20202034323934393637323834\"|string\(40\) \"3138343436373434303733373039353531363034\")

   Example 3 (full): sample023.phpt

``--EXPECTREGEX_EXTERNAL--``
----------------------------

**Description:** Similar to to ``--EXPECTREGEX--`` section, but like the ``--EXPECT_EXTERNAL--``
section just stating a filename where to load the expected output from.

**Required:** One of the ``EXPECT`` type sections is required.

**Test Script Support:** ``run-tests.php``

``--CLEAN--``
-------------

**Description:** Code that is executed after a test completes. It's main purpose is to allow you to
clean up after yourself. You might need to remove files created during the test or close sockets or
database connections following a test. Infact, even if a test fails or encounters a fatal error
during the test, the code found in the ``--CLEAN--`` section will still run.

Code in the clean section is run in a completely different process than the one the test was run in.
So do not try accessing variables you created in the ``--FILE--`` section from inside the
``--CLEAN--`` section, they won't exist.

Using the switch ``--no-clean`` on ``run-tests.php``, you can prevent the code found in the
``--CLEAN--`` section of a test from running. This allows you to inspect generated data or files
without them being removed by the ``--CLEAN--`` section.

**Required:** No.

**Test Script Support:** ``run-tests.php``

**Format:** PHP source code enclosed by PHP tags.

Example 1 (snippet):

.. code:: php

   --CLEAN--
   <?php
   unlink(__DIR__.'/DomDocument_save_basic.tmp');
   ?>

Example 1 (full): sample024.phpt

Example 2 (snippet):

.. code:: php

   --CLEAN--
   <?php
   require_once('clean.inc');
   ?>

Example 2 (full): sample025.phpt

Example 3 (snippet):

.. code:: php

   --CLEAN--
   <?php
   $key = ftok(__DIR__.'/003.phpt', 'q');
   $s = shm_attach($key);
   shm_remove($s);
   ?>

Example 3 (full): sample022.phpt

Samples
=======