How to test the type of a thrown exception in Jest

Question

I'm working with some code where I need to test the type of an exception thrown by a function (is it TypeError, ReferenceError, etc.?).

My current testing framework is AVA and I can test it as a second argument t.throws method, like here:

it('should throw Error with message \'UNKNOWN ERROR\' when no params were passed', (t) => {
  const error = t.throws(() => {
    throwError();
  }, TypeError);

  t.is(error.message, 'UNKNOWN ERROR');
});

I started rewriting my tests in Jest and couldn't find how to easily do that. Is it even possible?

Answer 1

In Jest you have to pass a function into expect(function).toThrow(<blank or type of error>).

Example:

test("Test description", () => {
  const t = () => {
    throw new TypeError();
  };
  expect(t).toThrow(TypeError);
});

Or if you also want to check for error message:

test("Test description", () => {
  const t = () => {
    throw new TypeError("UNKNOWN ERROR");
  };
  expect(t).toThrow(TypeError);
  expect(t).toThrow("UNKNOWN ERROR");
});

If you need to test an existing function whether it throws with a set of arguments, you have to wrap it inside an anonymous function in expect().

Example:

test("Test description", () => {
  expect(() => {http.get(yourUrl, yourCallbackFn)}).toThrow(TypeError);
});

Answer 2

It is a little bit weird, but it works and IMHO is good readable:

it('should throw Error with message \'UNKNOWN ERROR\' when no parameters were passed', () => {
  try {
      throwError();
      // Fail test if above expression doesn't throw anything.
      expect(true).toBe(false);
  } catch (e) {
      expect(e.message).toBe("UNKNOWN ERROR");
  }
});

The Catch block catches your exception, and then you can test on your raised Error. Strange expect(true).toBe(false); is needed to fail your test if the expected Error will be not thrown. Otherwise, this line is never reachable (Error should be raised before them).

@Kenny Body suggested a better solution which improve a code quality if you use expect.assertions():

it('should throw Error with message \'UNKNOWN ERROR\' when no parameters were passed', () => {
  expect.assertions(1);
  try {
      throwError();
  } catch (e) {
      expect(e.message).toBe("UNKNOWN ERROR");
  }
});

See the original answer with more explanations: How to test the type of a thrown exception in Jest

EDIT 2022:

To use this approach and not trigger no-conditional-expect rule (if you're using eslint-plugin-jest), documentation of this rule suggest to use error wrapper:

class NoErrorThrownError extends Error {}

const getError = async <TError>(call: () => unknown): Promise<TError> => {
  try {
    await call();

    throw new NoErrorThrownError();
  } catch (error: unknown) {
    return error as TError;
  }
};

describe('when the http request fails', () => {
  it('includes the status code in the error', async () => {
    const error = await getError(async () => makeRequest(url));

    // check that the returned error wasn't that no error was thrown
    expect(error).not.toBeInstanceOf(NoErrorThrownError);
    expect(error).toHaveProperty('statusCode', 404);
  });
});

See: no-conditional-expect docs

Answer 3

I use a slightly more concise version:

expect(() => {
  // Code block that should throw error
}).toThrow(TypeError) // Or .toThrow('expectedErrorMessage')