This is old documentation. Current Horde 5+ applications and libraries use PHPUnit wrapped in Horde_Test. + Writing PHP Tests .phpt stands for "php test" and is a specialized file format that consists of 4 standard sections, and two optional sections (marked by *). They are as follows: # TEST - the name of the test file (informational) # SKIPIF - PHP code that determines whether this test should be run, and echoes "skip reason", more at (a) # ARGS - pass in command-line arguments to php pear run-tests does not yet implement GET, POST, or INI # FILE - the actual test file, this is standard PHP # EXPECT/EXPECTF/EXPECTREGEX - plain test, the expected output of the file. EXPECTF and EXPECTREGEX are used to allow looser validation. a simple test is: <code> --TEST-- simple test --SKIPIF-- <?php if (substr(PHP_OS, 0, 3) == "WIN") { echo "skip cannot run on windows"; } echo "warn you might have left the iron plugged in"; ?> --FILE-- <?php echo "tests done"; ?> --EXPECT-- tests done </code> If you run this command on windows <code> C:\> pear run-tests simpletest.phpt SKIP (reason: cannot run on windows) </code> if you run it on any other OS <code> ~ pear run-tests simpletest.phpt PASS simple test [simpletest.phpt] (warn: you might have left the iron plugged in) </code> This test fails: <code> --TEST-- fail test --SKIPIF-- --FILE-- <?php echo "wrong"; ?> --EXPECT-- tests done </code> <code> C:\> pear run-tests failtest.phpt FAIL fail test [failtest.phpt] </code> and creates 3 files: <code> failtest.php: <?php echo "wrong"; ?> failtest.exp: tests done failtest.out: wrong failtest.diff: 001- tests done 001+ wrong </code> Most tests rely upon var_dump(), echo, and other display methods to validate the test like so: <code> --TEST-- old way --SKIPIF-- --FILE-- <?php var_dump(array(2, 'hi')); ?> --EXPECT-- array(2) { [0]=> int(3) [1]=> string(2) "hi" } </code> The method I have been using for testing PEAR is more familiar to users of phpunit. <code> --TEST-- new way --SKIPIF-- --FILE-- <?php require_once dirname(__FILE__) . '/phpt_test.php.inc'; $phpunit = new PEAR_PHPTest; $a = array(2, 'hi'); $phpunit->assertEquals(array(2, 'hi'), $a, 'first array'); echo 'tests done'; ?> --EXPECT-- tests done </code> When a test succeeds, there is no output, but in this test: <code> --TEST-- new way --SKIPIF-- --FILE-- <?php require_once dirname(__FILE__) . '/phpt_test.php.inc'; $phpunit = new PEAR_PHPTest; $a = array(3, 'hi'); $phpunit->assertEquals(array(2, 'hi'), $a, 'first array'); echo 'tests done'; ?> --EXPECT-- tests done </code> if you have Text_Diff installed, the .out file would contain: <code> Test Failure: "first array" in C:\devel\newtest.php line 4 Diff of expecting/received: @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@ array ( - 0 => 2, + 0 => 3, 1 => 'hi', ) </code> otherwise, it would contain: <code> Test Failure: "first array" in C:\devel\newtest.php line 4 Expecting: array ( 0 => 2, 1 => 'hi', ) Received: array ( 0 => 3, 1 => 'hi', ) </code> This makes it really easy to both debug and create new tests/modify old ones. If array(3, 'hi') is correct, all you have to do is cut and paste the output into your test. An extreme example of where I have done this is in pear-core/tests/PEAR_DependencyDB/test_rebuildDB.phpt An example of how this flexibility is better than a simple EXPECTF is in pear-core/tests/PEAR_Downloader_Package/test_initialize_abstractpackage.phpt in this section: <code> $phpunit->assertEquals(array ( 0 => array ( 0 => 3, 1 => '+ tmp dir created at ' . $dp->_downloader->getDownloadDir(), ), ), $fakelog->getLog(), 'log messages'); </code> here, I wanted to make sure that not only was this + tmp dir message logged, but that the directory created was in fact the one from our instance of PEAR_Downloader.