tmp_files

pytest_tmp_files.tmp_files(request, tmp_path)

An extension of tmp_path that can create a temporary file hierarchy when indirectly parametrized.

Returns:

The object provided to the test function by this fixture will be a pathlib.Path referring to the temporary directory that was created. This path will also have a manifest attribute containing the dictionary that specified which files to create.

In order to use this fixture, simply specify tmp_files as an argument to any of your test functions. There’s no need to import anything; this plugin installs itself so that pytest will automatically be able to find this fixture.

You must use indirect parametrization to specify which files to create. Any dictionary matching the format described here can be used as a parameter. Here’s an example of what this looks like:

import pytest

@pytest.mark.parametrize(
    'tmp_files, ...', [
        ({'path/to/file': 'file contents'}, ...),
        ...
    ],
    indirect=['tmp_files'],
)
def test_my_function(tmp_files, ...):
    ...

Note the indirect argument. This specifies that the tmp_files parameters should be made available to the tmp_files fixture. Also note that each set of parameters will get its own file hierarchy. This is good for making each test independent from all the others.

If you don’t want to use parametrization (e.g. if you only have one scenario you want to test), you probably don’t want to use this fixture. Instead, use the tmp_path fixture and call make_files within the test function to create your file hierarchy.