---
name: "Test::File::Contents"
section: "3pm"
platform: "linux"
package: "libtest-file-contents-perl"
version: "0.242-1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/Test::File::Contents"
---

# Test::File::Contents(3pm)

Test routines for examining the contents of files

## NAME

Test::File::Contents - Test routines for examining the contents of files

## SYNOPSIS

```
  use Test::File::Contents;
  file_contents_eq         $file,  $string,  $description;
  file_contents_eq_or_diff $file,  $string,  $description;
  file_contents_like       $file,  qr/foo/,  $description;
  file_md5sum_is           $file,  $md5sum,  $description;
  files_eq                 $file1, $file2,   $description;
  files_eq_or_diff         $file1, $file2,   $description;
```

## DESCRIPTION

Got an app that generates files? Then you need to test those files to make sure that their contents are correct. This module makes that easy. Use its test functions to make sure that the contents of files are exactly what you expect them to be.

## INTERFACE

### Options

These test functions take an optional hash reference of options which may include one or more of these options:

- "encoding"

  The encoding in which the file is encoded. This will be used in an I/O layer to read in the file, so that it can be properly decoded to Perl's internal representation. Examples include `"UTF-8"`, `"iso-8859-3"`, and `"cp1252"`. See Encode::Supported for a list of supported encodings. May also be specified as a layer, such as ":utf8" or ":raw". See perlio for a complete list of layers.

  Note that it's important to specify the encoding if you have non-ASCII characters in your file. And the value to be compared against (the string argument to `"file_contents_eq()"` and the regular expression argument to `"file_contents_like()"`, for example, must be decoded to Perl's internal form. The simplest way to do so use to put

  ```
    use utf8;
  ```

  In your test file and write it all in `"UTF-8"`. For example:

  ```
    use utf8;
    use Test::More tests => 1;
    use Test::File::Contents;
    file_contents_eq('utf8.txt',   'ååå', { encoding => 'UTF-8' });
    file_contents_eq('latin1.txt', 'ååå', { encoding => 'UTF-8' });
  ```

- "style"

  The style of diff to output in the diagnostics in the case of a failure in `"file_contents_eq_or_diff"`. The possible values are:

  - Unified

    - Context

    - OldStyle

    - Table

    - "context"

  Determines the amount of context displayed in diagnostic diff output. If you need to seem more of the area surrounding different lines, pass this option to determine how many more links you'd like to see.

### Test Functions

*file\_contents\_eq*

```
  file_contents_eq $file, $string, $description;
  file_contents_eq $file, $string, { encoding => 'UTF-8' };
  file_contents_eq $file, $string, { encoding => ':bytes' }, $description;
```

Checks that the file's contents are equal to a string. Pass in a Unix-style file name and it will be converted for the local file system. Supported options:

- "encoding"

  The old name for this function, `"file_contents_is"`, remains as an alias.

*file\_contents\_eq\_or\_diff*

```
  file_contents_eq_or_diff $file, $string, $description;
  file_contents_eq_or_diff $file, $string, { encoding => 'UTF-8' };
  file_contents_eq_or_diff $file, $string, { style    => 'context' }, $description;
```

Like `"file_contents_eq()"`, only in the event of failure, the diagnostics will contain a diff instead of the full contents of the file. This can make it easier to test the contents of very large text files, and where only a subset of the lines are different. Supported options:

- "encoding"

  - "style"

  - "context"

  *file\_contents\_ne*

```
  file_contents_ne $file, $string, $description;
  file_contents_ne $file, $string, { encoding => 'UTF-8' };
  file_contents_ne $file, $string, { encoding => ':bytes' }, $description;
```

Checks that the file's contents do not equal a string. Pass in a Unix-style file name and it will be converted for the local file system. Supported options:

- "encoding"

  The old name for this function, `"file_contents_isnt"`, remains as an alias.

*file\_contents\_like*

```
  file_contents_like $file, qr/foo/, $description;
  file_contents_like $file, qr/foo/, { encoding => 'UTF-8' };
  file_contents_like $file, qr/foo/, { encoding => ':bytes' }, $description;
```

Checks that the contents of a file match a regular expression. The regular expression must be passed as a regular expression object created by `"qr//"`. Supported options:

- "encoding"

  *file\_contents\_unlike*

```
  file_contents_unlike $file, qr/foo/, $description;
  file_contents_unlike $file, qr/foo/, { encoding => 'UTF-8' };
  file_contents_unlike $file, qr/foo/, { encoding => ':bytes' }, $description;
```

Checks that the contents of a file *do not* match a regular expression. The regular expression must be passed as a regular expression object created by `"qr//"`. Supported options:

- "encoding"

  *file\_md5sum\_is*

```
  file_md5sum_is $file, $md5sum, $description;
  file_md5sum_is $file, $md5sum, { encoding => 'UTF-8' };
  file_md5sum_is $file, $md5sum, { encoding => ':bytes' }, $description;
```

Checks whether a file matches a given MD5 checksum. The checksum should be provided as a hex string, for example, `"6df23dc03f9b54cc38a0fc1483df6e21"`. Pass in a Unix-style file name and it will be converted for the local file system. Supported options:

- "encoding"

  Probably not useful unless left unset or set to `":raw"`.

The old name for this function, `"file_md5sum"`, remains as an alias.

*files\_eq*

```
  files_eq $file1, $file2, $description;
  files_eq $file1, $file2, { encoding => 'UTF-8' };
  files_eq $file1, $file2, { encoding => ':bytes' }, $description;
```

Tests that the contents of two files are the same. Pass in a Unix-style file name and it will be converted for the local file system. Supported options:

- "encoding"

  The old name for this function, `"file_contents_identical"`, remains as an alias.

*files\_eq\_or\_diff*

```
  files_eq_or_diff $file1, $file2, $description;
  files_eq_or_diff $file1, $file2, { encoding => 'UTF-8' };
  files_eq_or_diff $file1, $file2, { style    => 'context' }, $description;
```

Like `"files_eq()"`, this function tests that the contents of two files are the same. Unlike `"files_eq()"`, on failure this function outputs a diff of the two files in the diagnostics. Supported options:

- "encoding"

  - "style"

  - "context"

  ## AUTHOR

Kirrily Robert

David E. Wheeler

## COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This software is copyright (c) 2016 by David E. Wheeler.

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.