[unit-testing] How to run JUnit test cases from the command line

I would like to run JUnit test cases from the command line. How can I do this?

If your project is Maven-based you can run all test-methods from test-class CustomTest which belongs to module 'my-module' using next command:

mvn clean test -pl :my-module -Dtest=CustomTest

Or run only 1 test-method myMethod from test-class CustomTest using next command:

mvn clean test -pl :my-module -Dtest=CustomTest#myMethod

For this ability you need Maven Surefire Plugin v.2.7.3+ and Junit 4. More details is here: http://maven.apache.org/surefire/maven-surefire-plugin/examples/single-test.html

Maven way

If you use Maven, you can run the following command to run all your test cases:

mvn clean test

Or you can run a particular test as below

mvn clean test -Dtest=your.package.TestClassName
mvn clean test -Dtest=your.package.TestClassName#particularMethod

If you would like to see the stack trace (if any) in the console instead of report files in the target\surefire-reports folder, set the user property surefire.useFile to false. For example:

mvn clean test -Dtest=your.package.TestClassName -Dsurefire.useFile=false

Gradle way

If you use Gradle, you can run the following command to run all your test cases:

gradle test

Or you can run a particular test as below

gradle test --tests your.package.TestClassName
gradle test --tests your.package.TestClassName.particularMethod

If you would like more information, you can consider options such as --stacktrace, or --info, or --debug.

For example, when you run Gradle with the info logging level --info, it will show you the result of each test while they are running. If there is any exception, it will show you the stack trace, pointing out what the problem is.

gradle test --info

If you would like to see the overall test results, you can open the report in the browser, for example (Open it using Google Chrome in Ubuntu):

google-chrome build/reports/tests/index.html

Ant way

Once you set up your Ant build file build.xml, you can run your JUnit test cases from the command line as below:

ant -f build.xml <Your JUnit test target name>

You can follow the link below to read more about how to configure JUnit tests in the Ant build file: https://ant.apache.org/manual/Tasks/junit.html

Normal way

If you do not use Maven, or Gradle or Ant, you can follow the following way:

First of all, you need to compile your test cases. For example (in Linux):

javac -d /absolute/path/for/compiled/classes -cp /absolute/path/to/junit-4.12.jar /absolute/path/to/TestClassName.java

Then run your test cases. For example:

java -cp /absolute/path/for/compiled/classes:/absolute/path/to/junit-4.12.jar:/absolute/path/to/hamcrest-core-1.3.jar org.junit.runner.JUnitCore your.package.TestClassName

Ensure that JUnit.jar is in your classpath, then invoke the command line runner from the console

java org.junit.runner.JUnitCore [test class name]

Reference: junit FAQ

In windows it is

java -cp .;/path/junit.jar org.junit.runner.JUnitCore TestClass [test class name without .class extension]

for example: c:\>java -cp .;f:/libraries/junit-4.8.2 org.junit.runner.JUnitCore TestSample1 TestSample2 ... and so on, if one has more than one test classes.

-cp stands for class path and the dot (.) represents the existing classpath while semi colon (;) appends the additional given jar to the classpath , as in above example junit-4.8.2 is now available in classpath to execute JUnitCore class that here we have used to execute our test classes.

Above command line statement helps you to execute junit (version 4+) tests from command prompt(i-e MSDos).

Note: JUnitCore is a facade to execute junit tests, this facade is included in 4+ versions of junit.

The answer that @lzap gave is a good solution. However, I would like to add that you should add . to the class path, so that your current directory is not left out, resulting in your own classes to be left out. This has happened to me on some platforms. So an updated version for JUnit 4.x would be:

java -cp .:/usr/share/java/junit.jar org.junit.runner.JUnitCore [test class name]

Actually you can also make the Junit test a runnable Jar and call the runnable jar as java -jar

With JUnit 4.12 the following didn't work for me:

java -cp .:/usr/share/java/junit.jar org.junit.runner.JUnitCore [test class name]

Apparently, from JUnit 4.11 onwards you should also include hamcrest-core.jar in your classpath:

java -cp .:/usr/share/java/junit.jar:/usr/share/java/hamcrest-core.jar org.junit.runner.JUnitCore [test class name]

Alternatively you can use the following methods in JunitCore class http://junit.sourceforge.net/javadoc/org/junit/runner/JUnitCore.html

run (with Request , Class classes and Runner) or runClasses from your java file.

For JUnit 5.x it's:

java -jar junit-platform-console-standalone-<version>.jar <Options>

Find a brief summary at https://stackoverflow.com/a/52373592/1431016 and full details at https://junit.org/junit5/docs/current/user-guide/#running-tests-console-launcher

For JUnit 4.X it's really:

java -cp .:/usr/share/java/junit.jar org.junit.runner.JUnitCore [test class name]

But if you are using JUnit 3.X note the class name is different:

java -cp .:/usr/share/java/junit.jar junit.textui.TestRunner [test class name]

You might need to add more JARs or directories with your class files to the classpath and separate that with semicolons (Windows) or colons (UNIX/Linux). It depends on your environment.

Edit: I've added current directory as an example. Depends on your environment and how you build your application (can be bin/ or build/ or even my_application.jar etc). Note Java 6+ does support globs in classpath, you can do:

java -cp lib/*.jar:/usr/share/java/junit.jar ...

Hope it helps. Write tests! :-)

Personally I would use the Maven surefire JUnit runner to do that.