Contributing Tests

The tests folder contains functional tests in the form of .vd scripts, each of which records a session of VisiData commands. These ensure that data processing works consistently and reliably.

dev/test.sh (run from the git root) will execute all tests. The final sheet of each test is saved as .tsv and compared to the respective expected output checked into the tests/golden directory.

As of January 2024, to pass all the tests, you will need to install the test extras:

git clone https://github.com/saulpw/visidata.git cd visidata pip3 install ".[test]"

To show each step of a test with a delay of 1 second between commands:

$ bin/vd -p tests/foo.vd -w 1

To build a .vd file:

1. Go through all of the steps of the workflow, ending on the sheet with the final result.

2. Press Shift+D to view the CommandLog Sheet.

3. Edit the commandlog to minimize the number of commands. Cells may be parameterized like {foo}, to be specified on the commandline:

   $ vd cmdlog.vd --foo=value

4. Save the cmdlog:

   Press Shift+D to open the commanDlog Sheet, and press Ctrl+S to save it with a .vd suffix.

There are also unit tests in visidata/tests. To run the unit tests:

pytest -sv visidata/tests