Testdoc

The simplest way to start using doctest (but not necessarily the way you’ll continue to do it) is to end each module M with: doctest then examines docstrings in module M. Running the module as a script causes the examples in the docstrings to get executed and verified:

There are several common ways to use doctest: To check that a module’s docstrings are up-to-date by verifying that all interactive examples still work as documented. To perform regression testing by verifying that interactive examples from a test file or a test object work as expected.

By default, each time doctest finds a docstring to test, it uses a shallow copy of M ’s globals, so that running tests doesn’t change the module’s real globals, and so that one test in M can’t leave behind crumbs that accidentally allow another test to work.

There is also a command line shortcut for running testmod (). You can instruct the Python interpreter to run the doctest module directly from the standard library and pass the module name (s) on the command line: python -m doctest -v example.py This will import example.py as a standalone module and run testmod () on it.