PROVE(1)						 Perl Programmers Reference Guide						  PROVE(1)

NAME

       prove -- A command-line tool for running tests against Test::Harness

SYNOPSIS

       prove [options] [files/directories]

OPTIONS

	   -b, --blib	   Adds blib/lib to the path for your tests, a la "use blib"
	   -d, --debug	   Includes extra debugging information
	   -D, --dry	   Dry run: Show the tests to run, but don't run them
	   -h, --help	   Display this help
	   -H, --man	   Longer manpage for prove
	   -I		   Add libraries to @INC, as Perl's -I
	   -l, --lib	   Add lib to the path for your tests
	       --perl	   Sets the name of the Perl executable to use
	   -r, --recurse   Recursively descend into directories
	   -s, --shuffle   Run the tests in a random order
	       --strap	   Define strap class to use
	   -T		   Enable tainting checks
	   -t		   Enable tainting warnings
	       --timer	   Print elapsed time after each test file
	   -v, --verbose   Display standard output of test scripts while running them
	   -V, --version   Display version info

       Single-character options may be stacked.  Default options may be set by specifying the PROVE_SWITCHES environment variable.

OVERVIEW

       prove is a command-line interface to the test-running functionality of "Test::Harness".	With no arguments, it will run all tests in the
       current directory.

       Shell metacharacters may be used with command lines options and will be exanded via "File::Glob::bsd_glob".

PROVE VS. ";MAKE TEST"
       prove has a number of advantages over "make test" when doing development.

       * prove is designed as a development tool
	   Perl users typically run the test harness through a makefile via "make test".  That's fine for module distributions, but it's subopti-
	   mal for a test/code/debug development cycle.

       * prove is granular
	   prove lets your run against only the files you want to check.  Running "prove t/live/ t/master.t" checks every *.t in t/live, plus
	   t/master.t.

       * prove has an easy verbose mode
	   prove has a "-v" option to see the raw output from the tests.  To do this with "make test", you must set "HARNESS_VERBOSE=1" in the
	   environment.

       * prove can run under taint mode
	   prove's "-T" runs your tests under "perl -T", and "-t" runs them under "perl -t".

       * prove can shuffle tests
	   You can use prove's "--shuffle" option to try to excite problems that don't show up when tests are run in the same order every time.

       * prove doesn't rely on a make tool
	   Not everyone wants to write a makefile, or use ExtUtils::MakeMaker to do so.  prove has no external dependencies.

       * Not everything is a module
	   More and more users are using Perl's testing tools outside the context of a module distribution, and may not even use a makefile at
	   all.

COMMAND LINE OPTIONS

       -b, --blib

       Adds blib/lib to the path for your tests, a la "use blib".

       -d, --debug

       Include debug information about how prove is being run.	This option doesn't show the output from the test scripts.  That's handled by
       -v,--verbose.

       -D, --dry

       Dry run: Show the tests to run, but don't run them.

       -I

       Add libraries to @INC, as Perl's -I.

       -l, --lib

       Add "lib" to @INC.  Equivalent to "-Ilib".

       --perl

       Sets the "HARNESS_PERL" environment variable, which controls what Perl executable will run the tests.

       -r, --recurse

       Descends into subdirectories of any directories specified, looking for tests.

       -s, --shuffle

       Sometimes tests are accidentally dependent on tests that have been run before.  This switch will shuffle the tests to be run prior to run-
       ning them, thus ensuring that hidden dependencies in the test order are likely to be revealed.  The author hopes the run the algorithm on
       the preceding sentence to see if he can produce something slightly less awkward.

       --strap

       Sets the HARNESS_STRAP_CLASS variable to set which Test::Harness::Straps variable to use in running the tests.

       -t

       Runs test programs under perl's -t taint warning mode.

       -T

       Runs test programs under perl's -T taint mode.

       --timer

       Print elapsed time after each test file

       -v, --verbose

       Display standard output of test scripts while running them.  Also sets TEST_VERBOSE in case your tests rely on them.

       -V, --version

       Display version info.

BUGS

       Please use the CPAN bug ticketing system at <http://rt.cpan.org/>.  You can also mail bugs, fixes and enhancements to "<bug-test-har-
       ness@rt.cpan.org>".

TODO

       o   Shuffled tests must be recreatable

AUTHORS

       Andy Lester "<andy at petdance.com>"

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright 2004-2006 by Andy Lester "<andy at petdance.com>".

       This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

       See <http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html>.

perl v5.8.9							    2009-04-13								  PROVE(1)