In python assert, how to print the condition when the assertion failed?

Question

In Python, I can do:

assert result==100, "result should be 100"

but this is redundant since I have to type the condition twice.

Is there a way to tell Python to automatically show the condition when the assertion fails?

Asked By: Erel Segal-Halevi

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Source

Answer 1

From Jupyter notebook

This happens with traceback. For example:

x = 2
assert x < 1
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
AssertionError                            Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-5-0662b7144a79> in <module>()
      1 x = 2
----> 2 assert x < 1

AssertionError:

However, it is good practice to humanize (i.e. explain in words) why this error occurs. Often, I use it to feed back useful information. For example:

x = 2
assert x < 1, "Number is not less than 1: {0}".format(x)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
AssertionError                            Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-4-bd4b9b15ccc2> in <module>()
      1 x = 2
----> 2 assert x < 1, "Number is not less than 1: {0}".format(x)

AssertionError: Number is not less than 1: 2

From command line

This still happens with traceback. For example:

H:>python assert.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "assert.py", line 1, in <module>
    assert 2 < 1
AssertionError

Solution for all environments

Use the traceback module. For details, see answer at How to handle AssertionError in Python and find out which line or statement it occurred on?

Answered By: jpp

Answer 2

With pure Python, you can’t reproduce the condition of the assertion automatically easily. The pytest testing framework does exactly what you want, but the implementation for this magic is everything but trivial. In short, pytest rewrites the code of your assertions to complex code to capture the information needed to generate the desired error message.

Answered By: sebasgo

Answer 3

assertpy is a small nice package which prints out useful error message out of the box:

>>> assert_that('foo').is_equal_to('bar')

Expected <foo> to be equal to <bar>, but was not.

Answered By: gebbissimo

In python assert, how to print the condition when the assertion failed?

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