Test exceptions

Let’s say you want to test method which throws an exception

class Car
{
    /**
     * @throws \Exception
     */
    public function drive()
    {
        throw new \Exception('Useful message', 1);
    }
}

You can do that by enclosing the method call into a try/catch block and making assertions on execption object’s properties, but more conveniently you can use exception assertion methods. As of PHPUnit 5.2 you have expectX() methods available for asserting exception type, message & code

class DriveTest extends PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
{
    public function testDrive()
    {
        // prepare
        $car = new \Car();
        $expectedClass = \Exception::class;
        $expectedMessage = 'Useful message';
        $expectedCode = 1;

        // test
        $this->expectException($expectedClass);
        $this->expectMessage($expectedMessage);
        $this->expectCode($expectedCode);

        // invoke
        $car->drive();
    }
}

If you are using earlier version of PHPUnit, method setExpectedException can be used in stead of expectX() methods, but keep in mind that it’s deprecated and will be removed in version 6.

class DriveTest extends PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
{
    public function testDrive()
    {
        // prepare
        $car = new \Car();
        $expectedClass = \Exception::class;
        $expectedMessage = 'Useful message';
        $expectedCode = 1;

        // test
        $this->setExpectedException($expectedClass, $expectedMessage, $expectedCode);

        // invoke
        $car->drive();
    }
}

Found a mistake? Have a question or improvement idea? Let me know.

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