---
name: "shunit2"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "shunit2"
version: "2.1.8-4"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/shunit2"
---

# shunit2(1)

unit test framework for shell scripts

## Name

**shunit2** - unit test framework for shell scripts

## Synopsis

**shunit2** *unit-file*

## Description

*shUnit2* is an *x*Unit unit test framework for Bourne-based shell scripts, and is designed to work in a similar manner to *JUnit*, *PyUnit*, and so forth. If you have ever had the desire to write a unit test for a shell script, *shUnit2* can do the job.

You can either run **shunit2** directly from the command line and specify the unit file *unit-file* or directly source the **shunit2** executable.

If you directly execute **shunit2** and *don't* specify *unit-file*, *shUnit2* assumes an empty test file and will return without an error message.

## Options

**shunit2** does not support any command-line options at all. You can either source **shunit2** with the shell's **.** (“dot”) built-in to execute your unit tests or directly run **shunit2** as a command with *unit-file* as a parameter.

## Example

The following simple script tests whether 1 equals 1.

```
#! /bin/sh
testEquality()
{
  assertEquals 1 1
}
```

**# load shunit2** **. shunit2**

The above example assumes this is executed on the machine where **shunit2** is available as an executable command found in the path specified by the environment variable **$PATH**. You can alternatively copy a **/usr/bin/shunit2** file from this machine to **path/to/shunit2** in the target source tree and use it in the target build environment as follows.

```
#! /bin/sh
testEquality()
{
  assertEquals 1 1
}
```

**# load shunit2** **. path/to/shunit2**

The following is a shell session transcript showing how to write the same test as above and execute it directly.

```
$
cat > test_equality.sh <<EOF
testEquality()
{
  assertEquals 1 1
}
EOF
$
shunit2 test_equality.sh
```

Note that **shunit2** is *not* sourced in this example.

More sophisticated examples can be found in ⟨file:///usr/share/doc/shunit2/examples/⟩.

## Authors

*shUnit2* was written by Kate Ward ⟨kate.ward@forestent.com⟩. This man page was originally written by Ulrich Dangel ⟨mru@spamt.net⟩.

## See also

For more information, see the shUnit2 GitHub project ⟨https://github.com/kward/shunit2/⟩, or have a look at the installed documentation ⟨file:///usr/share/doc/shunit2/⟩.