bats-testing-patterns

Bats Testing Patterns

Comprehensive guidance for writing comprehensive unit tests for shell scripts using Bats (Bash Automated Testing System), including test patterns, fixtures, and best practices for production-grade shell testing.

When to Use This Skill

• Writing unit tests for shell scripts
• Implementing test-driven development (TDD) for scripts
• Setting up automated testing in CI/CD pipelines
• Testing edge cases and error conditions
• Validating behavior across different shell environments
• Building maintainable test suites for scripts
• Creating fixtures for complex test scenarios
• Testing multiple shell dialects (bash, sh, dash)

Detailed patterns and worked examples

Detailed pattern documentation lives in references/details.md. Read that file when the navigation tier above is insufficient.

Testing Error Conditions

#!/usr/bin/env bats

@test "Function fails with missing file" {
    run my_function "/nonexistent/file.txt"
    [ "$status" -ne 0 ]
    [[ "$output" == *"not found"* ]]
}

@test "Function fails with invalid input" {
    run my_function ""
    [ "$status" -ne 0 ]
}

@test "Function fails with permission denied" {
    touch "$TMPDIR/readonly.txt"
    chmod 000 "$TMPDIR/readonly.txt"
    run my_function "$TMPDIR/readonly.txt"
    [ "$status" -ne 0 ]
    chmod 644 "$TMPDIR/readonly.txt"  # Cleanup
}

@test "Function provides helpful error message" {
    run my_function --invalid-option
    [ "$status" -ne 0 ]
    [[ "$output" == *"Usage:"* ]]
}

Testing with Dependencies

#!/usr/bin/env bats

setup() {
    # Check for required tools
    if ! command -v jq &>/dev/null; then
        skip "jq is not installed"
    fi

    export SCRIPT="${BATS_TEST_DIRNAME}/../bin/script.sh"
}

@test "JSON parsing works" {
    skip_if ! command -v jq &>/dev/null
    run my_json_parser '{"key": "value"}'
    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
}

Testing Shell Compatibility

#!/usr/bin/env bats

@test "Script works in bash" {
    bash "${BATS_TEST_DIRNAME}/../bin/script.sh" arg1
}

@test "Script works in sh (POSIX)" {
    sh "${BATS_TEST_DIRNAME}/../bin/script.sh" arg1
}

@test "Script works in dash" {
    if command -v dash &>/dev/null; then
        dash "${BATS_TEST_DIRNAME}/../bin/script.sh" arg1
    else
        skip "dash not installed"
    fi
}