path: root/Help/manual/ctest.1.rst

ctest(1)
********

Synopsis
========

::

  ctest [options]

Description
===========

The "ctest" executable is the CMake test driver program.
CMake-generated build trees created for projects that use the
ENABLE_TESTING and ADD_TEST commands have testing support.  This
program will run the tests and report results.


* ``-C <cfg>, --build-config <cfg>``: Choose configuration to test.

  Some CMake-generated build trees can have multiple build
  configurations in the same tree.  This option can be used to specify
  which one should be tested.  Example configurations are "Debug" and
  "Release".

* ``-V,--verbose``: Enable verbose output from tests.

  Test output is normally suppressed and only summary information is
  displayed.  This option will show all test output.

* ``-VV,--extra-verbose``: Enable more verbose output from tests.

  Test output is normally suppressed and only summary information is
  displayed.  This option will show even more test output.

* ``--debug``: Displaying more verbose internals of CTest.

  This feature will result in a large number of output that is mostly
  useful for debugging dashboard problems.

* ``--output-on-failure``: Output anything outputted by the test program if the test should fail.  This option can also be enabled by setting the environment variable CTEST_OUTPUT_ON_FAILURE

* ``-F``: Enable failover.

  This option allows ctest to resume a test set execution that was
  previously interrupted.  If no interruption occurred, the -F option
  will have no effect.

* ``-j <jobs>, --parallel <jobs>``: Run the tests in parallel using thegiven number of jobs.

  This option tells ctest to run the tests in parallel using given
  number of jobs.  This option can also be set by setting the
  environment variable CTEST_PARALLEL_LEVEL.

* ``-Q,--quiet``: Make ctest quiet.

  This option will suppress all the output.  The output log file will
  still be generated if the --output-log is specified.  Options such
  as --verbose, --extra-verbose, and --debug are ignored if --quiet is
  specified.

* ``-O <file>, --output-log <file>``: Output to log file

  This option tells ctest to write all its output to a log file.

* ``-N,--show-only``: Disable actual execution of tests.

  This option tells ctest to list the tests that would be run but not
  actually run them.  Useful in conjunction with the -R and -E
  options.

* ``-L <regex>, --label-regex <regex>``: Run tests with labels matching regular expression.

  This option tells ctest to run only the tests whose labels match the
  given regular expression.

* ``-R <regex>, --tests-regex <regex>``: Run tests matching regular expression.

  This option tells ctest to run only the tests whose names match the
  given regular expression.

* ``-E <regex>, --exclude-regex <regex>``: Exclude tests matching regular expression.

  This option tells ctest to NOT run the tests whose names match the
  given regular expression.

* ``-LE <regex>, --label-exclude <regex>``: Exclude tests with labels matching regular expression.

  This option tells ctest to NOT run the tests whose labels match the
  given regular expression.

* ``-D <dashboard>, --dashboard <dashboard>``: Execute dashboard test

  This option tells ctest to act as a Dart client and perform a
  dashboard test.  All tests are <Mode><Test>, where Mode can be
  Experimental, Nightly, and Continuous, and Test can be Start,
  Update, Configure, Build, Test, Coverage, and Submit.

* ``-D <var>:<type>=<value>``: Define a variable for script mode

  Pass in variable values on the command line.  Use in conjunction
  with -S to pass variable values to a dashboard script.  Parsing -D
  arguments as variable values is only attempted if the value
  following -D does not match any of the known dashboard types.

* ``-M <model>, --test-model <model>``: Sets the model for a dashboard

  This option tells ctest to act as a Dart client where the TestModel
  can be Experimental, Nightly, and Continuous.  Combining -M and -T
  is similar to -D

* ``-T <action>, --test-action <action>``: Sets the dashboard action to perform

  This option tells ctest to act as a Dart client and perform some
  action such as start, build, test etc.  Combining -M and -T is
  similar to -D

* ``--track <track>``: Specify the track to submit dashboard to

  Submit dashboard to specified track instead of default one.  By
  default, the dashboard is submitted to Nightly, Experimental, or
  Continuous track, but by specifying this option, the track can be
  arbitrary.

* ``-S <script>, --script <script>``: Execute a dashboard for a configuration

  This option tells ctest to load in a configuration script which sets
  a number of parameters such as the binary and source directories.
  Then ctest will do what is required to create and run a dashboard.
  This option basically sets up a dashboard and then runs ctest -D
  with the appropriate options.

* ``-SP <script>, --script-new-process <script>``: Execute a dashboard for a configuration

  This option does the same operations as -S but it will do them in a
  separate process.  This is primarily useful in cases where the
  script may modify the environment and you do not want the modified
  environment to impact other -S scripts.

* ``-A <file>, --add-notes <file>``: Add a notes file with submission

  This option tells ctest to include a notes file when submitting
  dashboard.

* ``-I [Start,End,Stride,test#,test#|Test file], --tests-information``: Run a specific number of tests by number.

  This option causes ctest to run tests starting at number Start,
  ending at number End, and incrementing by Stride.  Any additional
  numbers after Stride are considered individual test numbers.  Start,
  End,or stride can be empty.  Optionally a file can be given that
  contains the same syntax as the command line.

* ``-U, --union``: Take the Union of -I and -R

  When both -R and -I are specified by default the intersection of
  tests are run.  By specifying -U the union of tests is run instead.

* ``--rerun-failed``: Run only the tests that failed previously

  This option tells ctest to perform only the tests that failed during
  its previous run.  When this option is specified, ctest ignores all
  other options intended to modify the list of tests to run (-L, -R,
  -E, -LE, -I, etc).  In the event that CTest runs and no tests fail,
  subsequent calls to ctest with the --rerun-failed option will run
  the set of tests that most recently failed (if any).

* ``--max-width <width>``: Set the max width for a test name to output

  Set the maximum width for each test name to show in the output.
  This allows the user to widen the output to avoid clipping the test
  name which can be very annoying.

* ``--interactive-debug-mode [0|1]``: Set the interactive mode to 0 or 1.

  This option causes ctest to run tests in either an interactive mode
  or a non-interactive mode.  On Windows this means that in
  non-interactive mode, all system debug pop up windows are blocked.
  In dashboard mode (Experimental, Nightly, Continuous), the default
  is non-interactive.  When just running tests not for a dashboard the
  default is to allow popups and interactive debugging.

* ``--no-label-summary``: Disable timing summary information for labels.

  This option tells ctest not to print summary information for each
  label associated with the tests run.  If there are no labels on the
  tests, nothing extra is printed.

* ``--build-and-test``: Configure, build and run a test.

  This option tells ctest to configure (i.e.  run cmake on), build,
  and or execute a test.  The configure and test steps are optional.
  The arguments to this command line are the source and binary
  directories.  By default this will run CMake on the Source/Bin
  directories specified unless --build-nocmake is specified.  Both
  --build-makeprogram and --build-generator MUST be provided to use
  --build-and-test.  If --test-command is specified then that will be
  run after the build is complete.  Other options that affect this
  mode are --build-target --build-nocmake, --build-run-dir,
  --build-two-config, --build-exe-dir,
  --build-project,--build-noclean, --build-options

* ``--build-target``: Specify a specific target to build.

  This option goes with the --build-and-test option, if left out the
  all target is built.

* ``--build-nocmake``: Run the build without running cmake first.

  Skip the cmake step.

* ``--build-run-dir``: Specify directory to run programs from.

  Directory where programs will be after it has been compiled.

* ``--build-two-config``: Run CMake twice

* ``--build-exe-dir``: Specify the directory for the executable.

* ``--build-generator``: Specify the generator to use.

* ``--build-generator-toolset``: Specify the generator-specific toolset.

* ``--build-project``: Specify the name of the project to build.

* ``--build-makeprogram``: Specify the make program to use.

* ``--build-noclean``: Skip the make clean step.

* ``--build-config-sample``: A sample executable to use to determine the configuration

  A sample executable to use to determine the configuration that
  should be used.  e.g.  Debug/Release/etc

* ``--build-options``: Add extra options to the build step.

  This option must be the last option with the exception of
  --test-command

* ``--test-command``: The test to run with the --build-and-test option.

* ``--test-timeout``: The time limit in seconds, internal use only.

* ``--tomorrow-tag``: Nightly or experimental starts with next day tag.

  This is useful if the build will not finish in one day.

* ``--ctest-config``: The configuration file used to initialize CTest state when submitting dashboards.

  This option tells CTest to use different initialization file instead
  of CTestConfiguration.tcl.  This way multiple initialization files
  can be used for example to submit to multiple dashboards.

* ``--overwrite``: Overwrite CTest configuration option.

  By default ctest uses configuration options from configuration file.
  This option will overwrite the configuration option.

* ``--extra-submit <file>[;<file>]``: Submit extra files to the dashboard.

  This option will submit extra files to the dashboard.

* ``--force-new-ctest-process``: Run child CTest instances as new processes

  By default CTest will run child CTest instances within the same
  process.  If this behavior is not desired, this argument will
  enforce new processes for child CTest processes.

* ``--schedule-random``: Use a random order for scheduling tests

  This option will run the tests in a random order.  It is commonly
  used to detect implicit dependencies in a test suite.

* ``--submit-index``: Submit individual dashboard tests with specific index

  This option allows performing the same CTest action (such as test)
  multiple times and submit all stages to the same dashboard (Dart2
  required).  Each execution requires different index.

* ``--timeout <seconds>``: Set a global timeout on all tests.

  This option will set a global timeout on all tests that do not
  already have a timeout set on them.

* ``--stop-time <time>``: Set a time at which all tests should stop running.

  Set a real time of day at which all tests should timeout.  Example:
  7:00:00 -0400.  Any time format understood by the curl date parser
  is accepted.  Local time is assumed if no timezone is specified.

* ``--http1.0``: Submit using HTTP 1.0.

  This option will force CTest to use HTTP 1.0 to submit files to the
  dashboard, instead of HTTP 1.1.

* ``--no-compress-output``: Do not compress test output when submitting.

  This flag will turn off automatic compression of test output.  Use
  this to maintain compatibility with an older version of CDash which
  doesn't support compressed test output.

* ``--print-labels``: Print all available test labels.

  This option will not run any tests, it will simply print the list of
  all labels associated with the test set.

.. include:: OPTIONS_HELP.txt

See Also
========

.. include:: LINKS.txt