How does one do a deepEqual assertion with should.js?

Question

I've tried to make a deepEqual assertion with should.js (the latest version) and have not had any success. I can get things to work with equal but not with deepEqual. In fact I am seeing that there is no deepEqual method.

Here's what I've tried:

> require('should')
{...}
> > var x = Number(8)
undefined
> x.should.equal(8)
{ obj: 8 }
> x.should.equal(9)
AssertionError: expected 8 to equal 9
at ....
> x.should.deepEqual(8)
TypeError: Object #<Object> has no method 'deepEqual'

Fair enough. Now looking into should, I see it is a getter:

> Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(Object.prototype, 'should')
{ get: [Function],
  set: [Function],
  enumerable: false,
  configurable: true }

Since it is a getter, how to I examine its keys? This almost works:

> Object.keys(Object.prototype.should)
[ 'obj' ]

But then I see

> Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(should.obj)
{ value: undefined,
  writable: false,
  enumerable: false,
  configurable: false }

So I'm rather stuck at this point. I would just like to see what things can follow should.

I did read the docs and it says that should.js literally extends node's assert module, but node's assert does allow deepEqual.

> assert = require('assert')
> assert.deepEqual
[Function: deepEqual]

The should docs don't even mention deepEqual at all, which really has me confused. To make things even more confusing, I do see a deepEqual when I enter should on the node REPL. But it is buried in an ok element, as far as I can tell.

TL;DR: How do I call assertEqual or its equivalent from should?

Answer 1

I think you should (pun intended) use the eql method.

https://github.com/visionmedia/should.js/#eql

({ foo: 'bar' }).should.eql({ foo: 'bar' })