Using a configuration file

Just pass the configuration filename as the first argument instead of a Markdown file. The other command line options are ignored. The config file may be formatted as ‘.toml’, .ini. or ‘.cfg’. The phmdoctest configuration section [tool.phmdoctest] may be added to pre-existing configuration files.

A separate invocation of pytest is needed to run the generated test files.

Here are some example invocations using a configuration file that has the phmdoctest configuration section. These configuration files are in the phmdoctest repository.

phmdoctest pyproject.toml
pytest -v --doctest-modules .gendir-toml

phmdoctest setup.cfg
pytest -v --doctest-modules .gendir-cfg

phmdoctest tox.ini
pytest -v --doctest-modules .gendir-ini

You can also pass a configuration file by Python. Look for the Python API in the readthedocs documentation. See the section Development tools API 1.4.0.

This is a good starting point template section for a .toml format file.

[tool.phmdoctest]
# https://pypi.org/project/phmdoctest
# Writes pytest files generated from Markdown to output_directory.
# Invoke pytest separately to run the generated pytest files.

markdown_globs = [
    "README.md",
    "doc/*.md",
]
exclude_globs = [
]

output_directory = ".gendir-typical-toml"
print = ["filename", "summary"]
  • Filenames and globs are relative to the current working directory of the shell that invokes phmdoctest.

  • The output_directory can be relative or absolute.

Please see Python standard library pathlib Path.glob(pattern) for glob syntax. The ** glob pattern indicates recursive directory search. We could do the whole repository with (.toml) markdown_globs = ["**/*.md"]

The generated test files get written to the directory specified by output_directory.

output_directory is cleaned of all *.py files before writing new test files. Pre-existing *.py files in the output directory get renamed. If output_directory inadvertently gets pointed at a Python source directory, the renamed files can be recovered by renaming them.

The markdown_globs key specifies Markdown files to select for test file generation. The globs may be one per line or comma separated. Comments are OK on separate lines or at the end of a line.

The exclude_globs key specifies Markdown files that should not generate test files. Markdown files that don’t have any Python examples get automatically excluded.

The print key directs printing.

  • If filename is present the filename prints after test file generation and before writing the generated test file.

  • If summary is present the number of test files generated is printed last.

To prevent printing everything set print like this:

# .ini, .cfg
print =

# .toml
print = []

Here is an example .cfg format configuration file used for testing this project. The .ini format is the same.

# tests/generate.cfg
[tool.phmdoctest]
# https://pypi.org/project/phmdoctest
# Writes pytest files generated from Markdown to output_directory.
# Invoke pytest separately to run the generated pytest files.
markdown_globs =
    # Refer to Python standard library Path.glob(pattern)
    project.md
    doc/*.md
    tests/managenamespace.md  # inline comments are ok
    tests/one_code_block.md
    tests/output_has_blank_lines.md
    tests/setup_only.md
    tests/twentysix_session_blocks.md

exclude_globs =
    # Don't test files matching globs below:
    # Reason- needs command line args.
    doc/setup.md
    doc/setup_doctest.md
    # Reason- contains an already generated test file.
    doc/*_raw.md
    doc/*_py.md
    # Reason- need to register markers to avoid PytestUnknownMarkWarning.
    doc/mark_example.md

output_directory = .gendir-suite-cfg
print = filename, summary

This is the equivalent .toml format.

# tests/generate.toml
[tool.phmdoctest]
# https://pypi.org/project/phmdoctest
# Writes pytest files generated from Markdown to output_directory.
# Invoke pytest separately to run the generated pytest files.

markdown_globs = [
    # Refer to Python standard library Path.glob(pattern)
    "project.md",
    "doc/*.md",
    "tests/managenamespace.md",
    "tests/one_code_block.md",
    "tests/output_has_blank_lines.md",
    "tests/setup_only.md",
    "tests/twentysix_session_blocks.md",
]
exclude_globs = [
    # Don't test files matching globs below:
    # Reason- needs command line args.
    "doc/setup.md",
    "doc/setup_doctest.md",
    # Reason- contains an already generated test file.
    "doc/*_raw.md",
    "doc/*_py.md",
    # Reason- need to register markers to avoid PytestUnknownMarkWarning.
    "doc/mark_example.md",
]

output_directory = ".gendir-suite-toml"
print = ["filename", "summary"]