datasets.md

title	Datasets
description	Datasets

Datasets

• Overview
• Create Datasets
  • Inline Datasets
  • Shared Datasets
  • Lazy Datasets

Overview

Datasets in Pest allows you to run the same test multiple times with different data. Also, the test description will contain information about the arguments used on each test.

This feature is most commonly known as Data Providers in PHPUnit.

Create Datasets

Now, in this section, we are going to cover the way you can create datasets in Pest.

Inline Datasets

An inline dataset may be used for a single test only:

it('has emails', function ($email) {
    expect($email)->not->toBeEmpty();
})->with([
    'enunomaduro@gmail.com',
    'other@example.com'
]);

Of course, you can also give multiple arguments providing an array of arguments:

it('has emails', function ($name, $email) {
    expect($email)->not->toBeEmpty();
})->with([
    ['Nuno', 'enunomaduro@gmail.com'],
    ['Other', 'other@example.com']
]);

---

Shared Datasets

If you want to keep your test files clean, you can use the tests/Datasets folder to place your datasets:

tests
    - Unit/ComponentTest.php
    - Feature/HomeTest.php
    - Datasets/Emails.php <--
phpunit.xml

Inside this Emails.php you just have to use the dataset() function:

<?php

dataset('emails', [
    'enunomaduro@gmail.com',
    'other@example.com'
]);

In your test, you can use the dataset name to reuse your dataset:

it('has emails', function ($email) {
    expect($email)->not->toBeEmpty();
})->with('emails');

---

Lazy Datasets

In both inline and external approaches, you may need to serve your data with PHP's generators to allow you to work with very large datasets while keeping memory usage low:

dataset('emails', function () {
    yield 'enunomaduro@gmail.com';
    yield 'other@example.com';
});

it('has emails', function ($email) {
    expect($email)->not->toBeEmpty();
})->with(function () {
    yield 'enunomaduro@gmail.com';
    yield 'other@example.com';
});

Next section: Coverage →