Python Pytest: show full variables values on error (no minimization)

Question

I am using pytest 3.9 on Python 3.6 and did not find the answer to this question in pytest docs.

I have some test cases which involves checking if a given key is in a dictionary. When that key is not there, pytest shows the failure, but it somehow "reduce" the dictionary value, showing only some of its values. Same thing happens when outputting local variables values (dicts and lists are reduced so that only some values are shown).

Is there any way to disable that "value minimization" and show the full variable value instead ?

Example test case that shows this behavior:

def test_in():
    d = {key: key for key in range(500)} # makes d sufficiently big to trigger minimization of output
    assert 1000 in d # this will fail

shows:

================ FAILURES ===========
________________ test_in ___________

def test_in():
        d = {key: key for key in range(500)}
>       assert 1000 in d 
E       assert 1000 in {0: 0, 1: 1, 2: 2, 3: 3, ...}

I would like to have the full value of d instead of that abbreviated value. This would help me analyze some of the failure cases.

Answer 1

Using --showlocals

If you just need the full variables printing, you can use the --showlocals option, combined with the verbose output. Example:

$ pytest -vvl
==================================== test session starts ====================================
platform darwin -- Python 3.6.6, pytest-3.9.1, py-1.5.4, pluggy-0.7.1
cachedir: .pytest_cache
rootdir: /Users/hoefling/projects/private/stackoverflow, inifile:
collected 1 item

test_spam.py::test_in FAILED                                                          [100%]

========================================= FAILURES ==========================================
__________________________________________ test_in __________________________________________

    def test_in():
        d = {key: key for key in range(500)} # makes d sufficiently big to trigger minimization of output
>       assert 1000 in d # this will fail
E       assert 1000 in {0: 0, 1: 1, 2: 2, 3: 3, ...}

d          = {0: 0,
 1: 1,
 2: 2,
 3: 3,
 4: 4,
 5: 5,
 6: 6,
 7: 7,
 8: 8,
 9: 9,
 10: 10,

etc.

Custom pytest_assertrepr_compare hook

Another option is to redefine the specific assertion messages via pytest_assertrepr_compare hook. In the example below, I redefine assertion for el in dict checks. This will be automatically applied to all matching assertions in all tests:

# conftest.py

def pytest_assertrepr_compare(op, left, right):
    if op == 'in' and isinstance(right, dict):
        return [f'{left} in {right}']

Running pytest -vv will now yield the full dict as no no truncating is done in custom hook:

$ pytest -vv
================================== test session starts ===================================
platform darwin -- Python 3.6.6, pytest-3.9.1, py-1.5.4, pluggy-0.7.1
cachedir: .pytest_cache
rootdir: /Users/hoefling/projects/private/stackoverflow, inifile:
collected 1 item

test_spam.py::test_in FAILED                                                       [100%]

======================================== FAILURES ========================================
________________________________________ test_in _________________________________________

    def test_in():
        d = {key: key for key in range(500)} # makes d sufficiently big to trigger minimization of output
>       assert 1000 in d # this will fail
E       assert 1000 in {0: 0, 1: 1, 2: 2, 3: 3, 4: 4, 5: 5, 6: 6, 7: 7, 8: 8, 9: 9, 10: 10, 11: 11, 12: 12, 13: 13, 14: 14, 15: 15, 16: 16, 17: 17, 18: 18, 19: 19, 20: 20, 21: 21, 22: 22, 23: 23, 24: 24, 25: 25, 26: 26, 27: 27, 28: 28, 29: 29, 30: 30, 31: 31, 32: 32, 33: 33, 34: 34, 35: 35, 36: 36, 37: 37, 38: 38, 39: 39, 40: 40, 41: 41, 42: 42, 43: 43, 44: 44, 45: 45, 46: 46, 47: 47, 48: 48, 49: 49, 50: 50, 51: 51, 52: 52, 53: 53, 54: 54, 55: 55, 56: 56, 57: 57, 58: 58, 59: 59, 60: 60, 61: 61, 62: 62, 63: 63, 64: 64, 65: 65, 66: 66, 67: 67, 68: 68, 69: 69, 70: 70, 71: 71, 72: 72, 73: 73, 74: 74, 75: 75, 76: 76, 77: 77, 78: 78, 79: 79, 80: 80, 81: 81, 82: 82, 83: 83, 84: 84, 85: 85, 86: 86, 87: 87, 88: 88, 89: 89, 90: 90, 91: 91, 92: 92, 93: 93, 94: 94, 95: 95, 96: 96, 97: 97, 98: 98, 99: 99, 100: 100, 101: 101, 102: 102, 103: 103, 104: 104, 105: 105, 106: 106, 107: 107, 108: 108, 109: 109, 110: 110, 111: 111, 112: 112, 113: 113, 114: 114, 115: 115, 116: 116, 117: 117, 118: 118, 119: 119, 120: 120, 121: 121, 122: 122, 123: 123, 124: 124, 125: 125, 126: 126, 127: 127, 128: 128, 129: 129, 130: 130, 131: 131, 132: 132, 133: 133, 134: 134, 135: 135, 136: 136, 137: 137, 138: 138, 139: 139, 140: 140, 141: 141, 142: 142, 143: 143, 144: 144, 145: 145, 146: 146, 147: 147, 148: 148, 149: 149, 150: 150, 151: 151, 152: 152, 153: 153, 154: 154, 155: 155, 156: 156, 157: 157, 158: 158, 159: 159, 160: 160, 161: 161, 162: 162, 163: 163, 164: 164, 165: 165, 166: 166, 167: 167, 168: 168, 169: 169, 170: 170, 171: 171, 172: 172, 173: 173, 174: 174, 175: 175, 176: 176, 177: 177, 178: 178, 179: 179, 180: 180, 181: 181, 182: 182, 183: 183, 184: 184, 185: 185, 186: 186, 187: 187, 188: 188, 189: 189, 190: 190, 191: 191, 192: 192, 193: 193, 194: 194, 195: 195, 196: 196, 197: 197, 198: 198, 199: 199, 200: 200, 201: 201, 202: 202, 203: 203, 204: 204, 205: 205, 206: 206, 207: 207, 208: 208, 209: 209, 210: 210, 211: 211, 212: 212, 213: 213, 214: 214, 215: 215, 216: 216, 217: 217, 218: 218, 219: 219, 220: 220, 221: 221, 222: 222, 223: 223, 224: 224, 225: 225, 226: 226, 227: 227, 228: 228, 229: 229, 230: 230, 231: 231, 232: 232, 233: 233, 234: 234, 235: 235, 236: 236, 237: 237, 238: 238, 239: 239, 240: 240, 241: 241, 242: 242, 243: 243, 244: 244, 245: 245, 246: 246, 247: 247, 248: 248, 249: 249, 250: 250, 251: 251, 252: 252, 253: 253, 254: 254, 255: 255, 256: 256, 257: 257, 258: 258, 259: 259, 260: 260, 261: 261, 262: 262, 263: 263, 264: 264, 265: 265, 266: 266, 267: 267, 268: 268, 269: 269, 270: 270, 271: 271, 272: 272, 273: 273, 274: 274, 275: 275, 276: 276, 277: 277, 278: 278, 279: 279, 280: 280, 281: 281, 282: 282, 283: 283, 284: 284, 285: 285, 286: 286, 287: 287, 288: 288, 289: 289, 290: 290, 291: 291, 292: 292, 293: 293, 294: 294, 295: 295, 296: 296, 297: 297, 298: 298, 299: 299, 300: 300, 301: 301, 302: 302, 303: 303, 304: 304, 305: 305, 306: 306, 307: 307, 308: 308, 309: 309, 310: 310, 311: 311, 312: 312, 313: 313, 314: 314, 315: 315, 316: 316, 317: 317, 318: 318, 319: 319, 320: 320, 321: 321, 322: 322, 323: 323, 324: 324, 325: 325, 326: 326, 327: 327, 328: 328, 329: 329, 330: 330, 331: 331, 332: 332, 333: 333, 334: 334, 335: 335, 336: 336, 337: 337, 338: 338, 339: 339, 340: 340, 341: 341, 342: 342, 343: 343, 344: 344, 345: 345, 346: 346, 347: 347, 348: 348, 349: 349, 350: 350, 351: 351, 352: 352, 353: 353, 354: 354, 355: 355, 356: 356, 357: 357, 358: 358, 359: 359, 360: 360, 361: 361, 362: 362, 363: 363, 364: 364, 365: 365, 366: 366, 367: 367, 368: 368, 369: 369, 370: 370, 371: 371, 372: 372, 373: 373, 374: 374, 375: 375, 376: 376, 377: 377, 378: 378, 379: 379, 380: 380, 381: 381, 382: 382, 383: 383, 384: 384, 385: 385, 386: 386, 387: 387, 388: 388, 389: 389, 390: 390, 391: 391, 392: 392, 393: 393, 394: 394, 395: 395, 396: 396, 397: 397, 398: 398, 399: 399, 400: 400, 401: 401, 402: 402, 403: 403, 404: 404, 405: 405, 406: 406, 407: 407, 408: 408, 409: 409, 410: 410, 411: 411, 412: 412, 413: 413, 414: 414, 415: 415, 416: 416, 417: 417, 418: 418, 419: 419, 420: 420, 421: 421, 422: 422, 423: 423, 424: 424, 425: 425, 426: 426, 427: 427, 428: 428, 429: 429, 430: 430, 431: 431, 432: 432, 433: 433, 434: 434, 435: 435, 436: 436, 437: 437, 438: 438, 439: 439, 440: 440, 441: 441, 442: 442, 443: 443, 444: 444, 445: 445, 446: 446, 447: 447, 448: 448, 449: 449, 450: 450, 451: 451, 452: 452, 453: 453, 454: 454, 455: 455, 456: 456, 457: 457, 458: 458, 459: 459, 460: 460, 461: 461, 462: 462, 463: 463, 464: 464, 465: 465, 466: 466, 467: 467, 468: 468, 469: 469, 470: 470, 471: 471, 472: 472, 473: 473, 474: 474, 475: 475, 476: 476, 477: 477, 478: 478, 479: 479, 480: 480, 481: 481, 482: 482, 483: 483, 484: 484, 485: 485, 486: 486, 487: 487, 488: 488, 489: 489, 490: 490, 491: 491, 492: 492, 493: 493, 494: 494, 495: 495, 496: 496, 497: 497, 498: 498, 499: 499}

test_spam.py:3: AssertionError
================================ 1 failed in 0.08 seconds ================================