Bats-core (Bash Automated Testing System) is a TAP-compliant framework for writing and running automated tests for Bash 3.2 and later. A test is a Bash script containing specially marked test cases; Bats runs each case in isolation and reports whether its commands succeeded. Although designed for Bash programs, it can also test other Unix programs.
What is Bats-core?
Bats is an open-source testing framework that lets you check shell scripts and command-line programs with repeatable tests. The maintained project is bats-core. The original Bats repository by sstephenson is archived and read-only, so bats-core is the project to use for current development.
Bats is primarily intended for Bash programs, but a test can invoke and check any Unix program available in its environment. Its documented Bash compatibility baseline is Bash 3.2 or above.
How Bats tests work
A test file has the .bats extension and uses Bash syntax, with each test case declared using @test and a description. Inside the case, ordinary shell commands perform the work and assertions.
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#!/usr/bin/env bats
@test "addition" {
result="$(echo 2+2 | bc)"
[ "$result" -eq 4 ]
}Bats uses Bash’s errexit (set -e) behavior while running a test. In practical terms, a command that exits successfully allows the test to continue; a failing command causes the test to fail. In this example, the test passes if the command substitution returns 4 and the numeric comparison succeeds.
How to install bats-core
The official installation guide documents several installation routes. Choose one that suits your operating system and project; distribution packages may lag behind the latest upstream release, and the guide notes that pre-1.0 distribution packages come from the original project.
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- Homebrew:
brew install bats-core - npm, globally:
npm install -g bats - npm, in a project:
npm install --save-dev bats - From source: use the project’s documented source installation and run
./install.sh. - Linux packages: the guide lists packages for Arch, Alpine, Debian, Fedora, Gentoo, openSUSE, and Ubuntu.
- Windows: the guide documents installation through Git Bash.
- Docker: the official image is
bats/bats:latest.
How to run Bats tests
Pass one or more .bats files or directories to the bats command:
bats test_file.bats
bats test/Bats runs test cases sequentially and in isolation. When given a directory, it searches the top level by default; use recursive mode when tests are nested and should also be included. A fully passing run exits with status 0; if any test fails, the run exits with status 1. These exit codes make it straightforward for a CI job to mark a build as passed or failed.
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How to use Bats in CI and get reports
Bats prints readable pass/fail output when attached to a terminal. In CI or when output is redirected, it emits TAP, a human-readable and machine-parsable test format. You can also explicitly select a reporter:
bats --formatter tap test/forces TAP output.bats --formatter junit test/emits JUnit-compatible output for CI systems and test-reporting services that accept it.
A typical CI workflow installs bats-core in the runner, invokes it on the test directory, and uses the command’s exit status to determine whether the test step succeeds. Select TAP or JUnit when the downstream service requires a particular report format; consult that service’s documentation for how it expects reports to be saved or uploaded. The Bats documentation establishes the formatter options, but does not prescribe a particular CI provider or workflow configuration.
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Is Bats only for Bash?
No. Bats is designed primarily for testing Bash scripts, and requires Bash 3.2 or later, but test cases can also run other Unix programs. That makes it useful for checking command-line behavior as well as shell-specific logic, provided the commands being tested are available in the test environment.
Which Bats version should you use?
The bats-core GitHub releases page listed v1.14.0 as its latest release in the available release listing. Release listings change, so check the project page for the current version before pinning a dependency. If you install from a distribution package, verify its version against upstream because package repositories may not yet carry the latest release.
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