Laravel - How to use faker in PHPUnit test?

Question

It's giving me this error when I run the test:

undefined variable $faker.

This is the WithFaker file.

https://github.com/laravel/framework/blob/5.5/src/Illuminate/Foundation/Testing/WithFaker.php

<?php  namespace Tests\Unit;  use App\User; use Tests\TestCase; use Illuminate\Foundation\Testing\WithFaker; use Illuminate\Foundation\Testing\RefreshDatabase;  class LoginTest extends TestCase {      use WithFaker;      /**      * A basic test example.      *      * @return void      */      /** @test */     public function test_example()     {          $user = User::create([             'username' => $faker->firstName(),         ]);      }  } 

Answer 1

You have to use $this->faker->firstName() not just $faker->firstName()

Update 1

Now when we use WithFaker Trait $this->faker will give us null, to get around this make sure to call $this->setupFaker() first.

e.g.

class SomeFactory {     use WithFaker;      public function __construct()     {         $this->setUpFaker();     }  } 

credit @Ebi

Answer 2

For anyone coming here from 2021. We no longer require the addition of

$this->setUpFaker(); 

You only need to include the trait as described in the accepted answer.