# Logging macros Additional messages can be logged during a test case. Note that the messages logged with `INFO` are scoped and thus will not be reported if failure occurs in scope preceding the message declaration. An example: ```cpp TEST_CASE("Foo") { INFO("Test case start"); for (int i = 0; i < 2; ++i) { INFO("The number is " << i); CHECK(i == 0); } } TEST_CASE("Bar") { INFO("Test case start"); for (int i = 0; i < 2; ++i) { INFO("The number is " << i); CHECK(i == i); } CHECK(false); } ``` When the `CHECK` fails in the "Foo" test case, then two messages will be printed. ``` Test case start The number is 1 ``` When the last `CHECK` fails in the "Bar" test case, then only one message will be printed: `Test case start`. ## Logging without local scope `UNSCOPED_INFO` is similar to `INFO` with two key differences: - Lifetime of an unscoped message is not tied to its own scope. - An unscoped message can be reported by the first following assertion only, regardless of the result of that assertion. In other words, lifetime of `UNSCOPED_INFO` is limited by the following assertion (or by the end of test case/section, whichever comes first) whereas lifetime of `INFO` is limited by its own scope. These differences make this macro useful for reporting information from helper functions or inner scopes. An example: ```cpp void print_some_info() { UNSCOPED_INFO("Info from helper"); } TEST_CASE("Baz") { print_some_info(); for (int i = 0; i < 2; ++i) { UNSCOPED_INFO("The number is " << i); } CHECK(false); } TEST_CASE("Qux") { INFO("First info"); UNSCOPED_INFO("First unscoped info"); CHECK(false); INFO("Second info"); UNSCOPED_INFO("Second unscoped info"); CHECK(false); } ``` "Baz" test case prints: ``` Info from helper The number is 0 The number is 1 ``` With "Qux" test case, two messages will be printed when the first `CHECK` fails: ``` First info First unscoped info ``` "First unscoped info" message will be cleared after the first `CHECK`, while "First info" message will persist until the end of the test case. Therefore, when the second `CHECK` fails, three messages will be printed: ``` First info Second info Second unscoped info ``` ## Streaming macros All these macros allow heterogenous sequences of values to be streaming using the insertion operator (```<<```) in the same way that std::ostream, std::cout, etc support it. E.g.: ```c++ INFO( "The number is " << i ); ``` (Note that there is no initial ```<<``` - instead the insertion sequence is placed in parentheses.) These macros come in three forms: **INFO(** _message expression_ **)** The message is logged to a buffer, but only reported with next assertions that are logged. This allows you to log contextual information in case of failures which is not shown during a successful test run (for the console reporter, without -s). Messages are removed from the buffer at the end of their scope, so may be used, for example, in loops. _Note that in Catch2 2.x.x `INFO` can be used without a trailing semicolon as there is a trailing semicolon inside macro. This semicolon will be removed with next major version. It is highly advised to use a trailing semicolon after `INFO` macro._ **UNSCOPED_INFO(** _message expression_ **)** Similar to `INFO`, but messages are not limited to their own scope: They are removed from the buffer after each assertion, section or test case, whichever comes first. **WARN(** _message expression_ **)** The message is always reported but does not fail the test. **FAIL(** _message expression_ **)** The message is reported and the test case fails. **FAIL_CHECK(** _message expression_ **)** AS `FAIL`, but does not abort the test ## Quickly capture value of variables or expressions **CAPTURE(** _expression1_, _expression2_, ... **)** Sometimes you just want to log a value of variable, or expression. For convenience, we provide the `CAPTURE` macro, that can take a variable, or an expression, and prints out that variable/expression and its value at the time of capture. e.g. `CAPTURE( theAnswer );` will log message "theAnswer := 42", while ```cpp int a = 1, b = 2, c = 3; CAPTURE( a, b, c, a + b, c > b, a == 1); ``` will log a total of 6 messages: ``` a := 1 b := 2 c := 3 a + b := 3 c > b := true a == 1 := true ``` You can also capture expressions that use commas inside parentheses (e.g. function calls), brackets, or braces (e.g. initializers). To properly capture expression that contains template parameters list (in other words, it contains commas between angle brackets), you need to enclose the expression inside parentheses: `CAPTURE( (std::pair{1, 2}) );` --- [Home](Readme.md#top)