.. cmake-manual-description: CTest Command-Line Reference
ctest(1)
********
.. contents::
Synopsis
========
.. parsed-literal::
ctest [<options>]
ctest --build-and-test <path-to-source> <path-to-build>
--build-generator <generator> [<options>...]
[--build-options <opts>...] [--test-command <command> [<args>...]]
ctest {-D <dashboard> | -M <model> -T <action> | -S <script> | -SP <script>}
[-- <dashboard-options>...]
Description
===========
The **ctest** executable is the CMake test driver program.
CMake-generated build trees created for projects that use the
:command:`enable_testing` and :command:`add_test` commands have testing support.
This program will run the tests and report results.
Options
=======
``-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``.
``--progress``
Enable short progress output from tests.
When the output of **ctest** is being sent directly to a terminal, the
progress through the set of tests is reported by updating the same line
rather than printing start and end messages for each test on new lines.
This can significantly reduce the verbosity of the test output.
Test completion messages are still output on their own line for failed
tests and the final test summary will also still be logged.
This option can also be enabled by setting the environment variable
:envvar:`CTEST_PROGRESS_OUTPUT`.
``-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
:envvar:`CTEST_OUTPUT_ON_FAILURE` environment variable
``--stop-on-failure``
Stop running the tests when the first failure happens.
``-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 the given 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
:envvar:`CTEST_PARALLEL_LEVEL` environment variable.
This option can be used with the :prop_test:`PROCESSORS` test property.
See `Label and Subproject Summary`_.
``--resource-spec-file <file>``
Run CTest with :ref:`resource allocation <ctest-resource-allocation>` enabled,
using the
:ref:`resource specification file <ctest-resource-specification-file>`
specified in ``<file>``.
When ``ctest`` is run as a `Dashboard Client`_ this sets the
``ResourceSpecFile`` option of the `CTest Test Step`_.
``--test-load <level>``
While running tests in parallel (e.g. with ``-j``), try not to start
tests when they may cause the CPU load to pass above a given threshold.
When ``ctest`` is run as a `Dashboard Client`_ this sets the
``TestLoad`` option of the `CTest Test Step`_.
``-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 ``<file>`` log file.
``-N,--show-only[=<format>]``
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.
``<format>`` can be one of the following values.
``human``
Human-friendly output. This is not guaranteed to be stable.
This is the default.
``json-v1``
Dump the test information in JSON format.
See `Show as JSON Object Model`_.
``-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.
``-FA <regex>, --fixture-exclude-any <regex>``
Exclude fixtures matching ``<regex>`` from automatically adding any tests to
the test set.
If a test in the set of tests to be executed requires a particular fixture,
that fixture's setup and cleanup tests would normally be added to the test set
automatically. This option prevents adding setup or cleanup tests for fixtures
matching the ``<regex>``. Note that all other fixture behavior is retained,
including test dependencies and skipping tests that have fixture setup tests
that fail.
``-FS <regex>, --fixture-exclude-setup <regex>``
Same as ``-FA`` except only matching setup tests are excluded.
``-FC <regex>, --fixture-exclude-cleanup <regex>``
Same as ``-FA`` except only matching cleanup tests are excluded.
``-D <dashboard>, --dashboard <dashboard>``
Execute dashboard test.
This option tells CTest to act as a CDash 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``.
See `Dashboard Client`_.
``-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 CDash client where the ``<model>``
can be ``Experimental``, ``Nightly``, and ``Continuous``.
Combining ``-M`` and ``-T`` is similar to ``-D``.
See `Dashboard Client`_.
``-T <action>, --test-action <action>``
Sets the dashboard action to perform.
This option tells CTest to act as a CDash client and perform some
action such as ``start``, ``build``, ``test`` etc. See
`Dashboard Client Steps`_ for the full list of actions.
Combining ``-M`` and ``-T`` is similar to ``-D``.
See `Dashboard Client`_.
``-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.
See `Dash