How to tell py.test to skip certain directories?

Question

I tried to use the norecursedirs option inside setup.cfg to tell py.test not to collect tests from certain directories but it seems it does ignore it.

[tool:pytest]
norecursedirs=lib/third

When I run py.test I do see how it does get tests from inside lib/third!

Advocate

It seems that I have py.test and pytest both of them runnings tests and being different beasts. Strange but pytest is the one failing because it does not load the exclusions from [pytest]. – Advocate

pytest is from logilab. You want py.test. – Stranglehold

also try doing nosecuredirs=lib/third/* – Endres

is there a way to ignore some folders in the script itself with code ? – Punt

ended up here because I was curious why the hell my pytest of web app in local development are so extremly slow... The reason was some uploaded resources directory with nested yy/dd/mm structure.... causing it reallly sucks! thankfully [pytest] norecursedirs = resources in pytest.ini does a trick!💪 – Don

@Stranglehold I guess your comment is outdated? I think today, one should use pytest instead of py.test – Zillah

Answer 1

I solved the mystery: If a pytest section is found in one of the possible config files (pytest.ini, tox.ini and setup.cfg), pytest will not look for any others so be sure you define the py.test options in a single file.

I would suggest using setup.cfg.

Advocate

Why setup.cfg? The current documentation appears to recommend the other two – Sympathize

i think it's important to mention that if you want to use a .ini file you need to specify it with pytest -c pytest.ini. for some reason setup.cfg contents were picked up automatically. – Complicated

@Complicated For me pytest.ini is used without such tricks. – Flambeau

Answer 2

py.test --ignore=somedir worked for me

In pytest.ini:

[pytest]
addopts = --ignore=somedir --ignore=someotherdir

Longdrawnout

And --ignore can be specified multiple times to ignore multiple directories – Danika

How to skip certain tests instead of directory – Visibility

You can use the -k option as another answer below shows. See "Run tests by keyword expressions" on docs.pytest.org/en/latest/…. Marks may be helpful here as well. Mark your tests as "slow", etc and then use -k "not slow" – Longdrawnout

It is also possible to use --ignore-glob to ignore test file paths based on Unix shell-style wildcards. E.g. --ignore-glob=**/sandbox/* will ignore all files in any sandbox folder. – Species

Answer 3

If you have several directories with different parents you can specify different --ignore parameters:

py.test --ignore=somedir --ignore=otherdir --ignore=etcdir

• new option: --ignore will prevent specified path from collection.
  Can be specified multiple times.

Elfin

Answer 4

You can use

py.test -k 'not third'

that excludes all 'third' directory contents.

Trap

Answer 5

In my case, the issue was the missing wildcard. The following works for me:

[tool:pytest]
norecursedirs = subpath/*

whereas just norecursedirs = subpath didn't.

Valkyrie

Same here. Very strange behavior though. – Calling

Looks like those entries are just globs, not foldernames, then. Note you can add more entries with a space after each. – Maccarthy

does it support pattern such as a/**/test*.py? – Wilmoth

for me addition of the asterisk is unnecessary, it works without it – Vercingetorix

is the folder path absolute or relative to pytest entry point ? – Grounds

@matanster Perhaps pytest's behavior has changed in the meantime? – Valkyrie

@Pierrick Rambaud: I'd always assume relative, not absolute. If one would commit an absolute path to a version control system, it would only work in this particular absolute checkout path. – Valkyrie

Answer 6

norecursedirs should work. Check whether you have a pytest.ini or other setup.cfg files. How are you invoking py.test?

Stranglehold

I do have setup.cfg with the proper [pytest] and norecorsedirs inside but it seems to be ignored, and instead it will look for all files. – Advocate

Answer 7

If you are using setup.cfg, you have to use [tool:pytest] as per http://doc.pytest.org/en/latest/example/pythoncollection.html

# content of pytest.ini
# can also be defined in tox.ini or setup.cfg file, although the section
# name in setup.cfg files should be "tool:pytest"

Brazell

Answer 8

To use pytest.ini (which is recommended, unless you're using tox in which case tox.ini would make sense), call pytest with pytest -c pytest.ini.

In order to prevent my sample not_me_1.py and not_me_2.py from being tested or linted, my pytest.ini is as follows:

[pytest]
addopts = --ignore-glob=not_me_*

[pycodestyle]
ignore = not_me_* ALL

Complicated

Answer 9

This (regex pattern) worked for me in pytest.ini:

filterwarnings =
    ignore::DeprecationWarning:.*(venv)*

you can also do this:

filterwarnings =
    ignore:::.*(venv)*

or to be more specific with libraries, you can do:

filterwarnings =
    ignore::DeprecationWarning:pkg_resources.*
    ignore::DeprecationWarning:django.*
    ignore::DeprecationWarning:rest_framework_simplejwt.*

Disenfranchise

it's counter-productive to run tests and then simply ignore them. The OP isn't talking about ignoring warnings, but skipping tests. – Rafaellle