
.. _`tmpdir handling`:
.. _tmpdir:

Temporary directories and files
================================================

The 'tmpdir' fixture
--------------------

You can use the ``tmpdir`` fixture which will
provide a temporary directory unique to the test invocation,
created in the `base temporary directory`_.

``tmpdir`` is a `py.path.local`_ object which offers ``os.path`` methods
and more.  Here is an example test usage::

    # content of test_tmpdir.py
    import os
    def test_create_file(tmpdir):
        p = tmpdir.mkdir("sub").join("hello.txt")
        p.write("content")
        assert p.read() == "content"
        assert len(tmpdir.listdir()) == 1
        assert 0

Running this would result in a passed test except for the last
``assert 0`` line which we use to look at values::

    $ py.test test_tmpdir.py
    ======= test session starts ========
    platform linux2 -- Python 2.7.9, pytest-2.8.0.dev4, py-1.4.28, pluggy-0.3.0
    rootdir: $REGENDOC_TMPDIR, inifile: 
    collected 1 items
    
    test_tmpdir.py F
    
    ======= FAILURES ========
    _______ test_create_file ________
    
    tmpdir = local('/tmp/pytest-NaN/test_create_file0')
    
        def test_create_file(tmpdir):
            p = tmpdir.mkdir("sub").join("hello.txt")
            p.write("content")
            assert p.read() == "content"
            assert len(tmpdir.listdir()) == 1
    >       assert 0
    E       assert 0
    
    test_tmpdir.py:7: AssertionError
    ======= 1 failed in 0.12 seconds ========


The 'tmpdir_factory' fixture
----------------------------

.. versionadded:: 2.8

The ``tmpdir_factory`` is a session-scoped fixture which can be used
to create arbitrary temporary directories from any other fixture or test.

For example, suppose your test suite needs a large image on disk, which is
generated procedurally. Instead of computing the same image for each test
that uses it into its own ``tmpdir``, you can generate it once per-session
to save time:

.. code-block:: python

    # contents of conftest.py
    import pytest

    @pytest.fixture(scope='session')
    def image_file(tmpdir_factory):
        img = compute_expensive_image()
        fn = tmpdir_factory.mktemp('data').join('img.png')
        img.save(str(fn))
        return fn

    # contents of test_image.py
    def test_histogram(image_file):
        img = load_image(image_file)
        # compute and test histogram

``tmpdir_factory`` instances have the following methods:

.. currentmodule:: _pytest.tmpdir

.. automethod:: TempdirFactory.mktemp
.. automethod:: TempdirFactory.getbasetemp

.. _`base temporary directory`:

The default base temporary directory
-----------------------------------------------

Temporary directories are by default created as sub-directories of
the system temporary directory.  The base name will be ``pytest-NUM`` where
``NUM`` will be incremented with each test run.  Moreover, entries older
than 3 temporary directories will be removed.

You can override the default temporary directory setting like this::

    py.test --basetemp=mydir

When distributing tests on the local machine, ``pytest`` takes care to
configure a basetemp directory for the sub processes such that all temporary
data lands below a single per-test run basetemp directory.

.. _`py.path.local`: http://py.rtfd.org/en/latest/path.html


