Assertions
Introduction
Playwright includes test assertions in the form of expect function. To make an assertion, call expect(value) and choose a matcher that reflects the expectation. There are many generic matchers like toEqual, toContain, toBeTruthy that can be used to assert any conditions.
expect(success).toBeTruthy();
Playwright also includes web-specific async matchers that will wait until the expected condition is met. Consider the following example:
await expect(page.getByTestId('status')).toHaveText('Submitted');
Playwright will be re-testing the element with the test id of status until the fetched element has the "Submitted" text. It will re-fetch the element and check it over and over, until the condition is met or until the timeout is reached. You can either pass this timeout or configure it once via the testConfig.expect value in the test config.
By default, the timeout for assertions is set to 5 seconds. Learn more about various timeouts.
Auto-retrying assertions
The following assertions will retry until the assertion passes, or the assertion timeout is reached. Note that retrying assertions are async, so you must await them.
Non-retrying assertions
These assertions allow to test any conditions, but do not auto-retry. Most of the time, web pages show information asynchronously, and using non-retrying assertions can lead to a flaky test.
Prefer auto-retrying assertions whenever possible. For more complex assertions that need to be retried, use expect.poll or expect.toPass.
| Assertion | Description |
|---|---|
| expect(value).toBe() | Value is the same |
| expect(value).toBeCloseTo() | Number is approximately equal |
| expect(value).toBeDefined() | Value is not undefined |
| expect(value).toBeFalsy() | Value is falsy, e.g. false, 0, null, etc. |
| expect(value).toBeGreaterThan() | Number is more than |
| expect(value).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual() | Number is more than or equal |
| expect(value).toBeInstanceOf() | Object is an instance of a class |
| expect(value).toBeLessThan() | Number is less than |
| expect(value).toBeLessThanOrEqual() | Number is less than or equal |
| expect(value).toBeNaN() | Value is NaN |
| expect(value).toBeNull() | Value is null |
| expect(value).toBeTruthy() | Value is truthy, i.e. not false, 0, null, etc. |
| expect(value).toBeUndefined() | Value is undefined |
| expect(value).toContain() | String contains a substring |
| expect(value).toContain() | Array or set contains an element |
| expect(value).toContainEqual() | Array or set contains a similar element |
| expect(value).toEqual() | Value is similar - deep equality and pattern matching |
| expect(value).toHaveLength() | Array or string has length |
| expect(value).toHaveProperty() | Object has a property |
| expect(value).toMatch() | String matches a regular expression |
| expect(value).toMatchObject() | Object contains specified properties |
| expect(value).toStrictEqual() | Value is similar, including property types |
| expect(value).toThrow() | Function throws an error |
| expect(value).any() | Matches any instance of a class/primitive |
| expect(value).anything() | Matches anything |
| expect(value).arrayContaining() | Array contains specific elements |
| expect(value).closeTo() | Number is approximately equal |
| expect(value).objectContaining() | Object contains specific properties |
| expect(value).stringContaining() | String contains a substring |
| expect(value).stringMatching() | String matches a regular expression |
Negating matchers
In general, we can expect the opposite to be true by adding a .not to the front of the matchers:
expect(value).not.toEqual(0);
await expect(locator).not.toContainText('some text');
Soft assertions
By default, failed assertion will terminate test execution. Playwright also supports soft assertions: failed soft assertions do not terminate test execution, but mark the test as failed.
// Make a few checks that will not stop the test when failed...
await expect.soft(page.getByTestId('status')).toHaveText('Success');
await expect.soft(page.getByTestId('eta')).toHaveText('1 day');
// ... and continue the test to check more things.
await page.getByRole('link', { name: 'next page' }).click();
await expect.soft(page.getByRole('heading', { name: 'Make another order' })).toBeVisible();
At any point during test execution, you can check whether there were any soft assertion failures:
// Make a few checks that will not stop the test when failed...
await expect.soft(page.getByTestId('status')).toHaveText('Success');
await expect.soft(page.getByTestId('eta')).toHaveText('1 day');
// Avoid running further if there were soft assertion failures.
expect(test.info().errors).toHaveLength(0);
Note that soft assertions only work with Playwright test runner.
Custom expect message
You can specify a custom expect message as a second argument to the expect function, for example:
await expect(page.getByText('Name'), 'should be logged in').toBeVisible();
This message will be shown in reporters, both for passing and failing expects, providing more context about the assertion.
When expect passes, you might see a successful step like this:
✅ should be logged in @example.spec.ts:18
When expect fails, the error would look like this:
Error: should be logged in
Call log:
- expect.toBeVisible with timeout 5000ms
- waiting for "getByText('Name')"
2 |
3 | test('example test', async({ page }) => {
> 4 | await expect(page.getByText('Name'), 'should be logged in').toBeVisible();
| ^
5 | });
6 |
Soft assertions also support custom message:
expect.soft(value, 'my soft assertion').toBe(56);
expect.configure
You can create your own pre-configured expect instance to have its own defaults such as timeout and soft.
const slowExpect = expect.configure({ timeout: 10000 });
await slowExpect(locator).toHaveText('Submit');
// Always do soft assertions.
const softExpect = expect.configure({ soft: true });
await softExpect(locator).toHaveText('Submit');
expect.poll
You can convert any synchronous expect to an asynchronous polling one using expect.poll.
The following method will poll given function until it returns HTTP status 200:
await expect.poll(async () => {
const response = await page.request.get('https://api.example.com');
return response.status();
}, {
// Custom expect message for reporting, optional.
message: 'make sure API eventually succeeds',
// Poll for 10 seconds; defaults to 5 seconds. Pass 0 to disable timeout.
timeout: 10000,
}).toBe(200);
You can also specify custom polling intervals:
await expect.poll(async () => {
const response = await page.request.get('https://api.example.com');
return response.status();
}, {
// Probe, wait 1s, probe, wait 2s, probe, wait 10s, probe, wait 10s, probe
// ... Defaults to [100, 250, 500, 1000].
intervals: [1_000, 2_000, 10_000],
timeout: 60_000
}).toBe(200);
expect.toPass
You can retry blocks of code until they are passing successfully.
await expect(async () => {
const response = await page.request.get('https://api.example.com');
expect(response.status()).toBe(200);
}).toPass();
You can also specify custom timeout and retry intervals:
await expect(async () => {
const response = await page.request.get('https://api.example.com');
expect(response.status()).toBe(200);
}).toPass({
// Probe, wait 1s, probe, wait 2s, probe, wait 10s, probe, wait 10s, probe
// ... Defaults to [100, 250, 500, 1000].
intervals: [1_000, 2_000, 10_000],
timeout: 60_000
});
Note that by default toPass has timeout 0 and does not respect custom expect timeout.
Add custom matchers using expect.extend
You can extend Playwright assertions by providing custom matchers. These matchers will be available on the expect object.
In this example we add a custom toHaveAmount function. Custom matcher should return a message callback and a pass flag indicating whether the assertion passed.
import { expect as baseExpect } from '@playwright/test';
import type { Page, Locator } from '@playwright/test';
export { test } from '@playwright/test';
export const expect = baseExpect.extend({
async toHaveAmount(locator: Locator, expected: number, options?: { timeout?: number }) {
const assertionName = 'toHaveAmount';
let pass: boolean;
let matcherResult: any;
try {
await baseExpect(locator).toHaveAttribute('data-amount', String(expected), options);
pass = true;
} catch (e: any) {
matcherResult = e.matcherResult;
pass = false;
}
const message = pass
? () => this.utils.matcherHint(assertionName, undefined, undefined, { isNot: this.isNot }) +
'\n\n' +
`Locator: ${locator}\n` +
`Expected: ${this.isNot ? 'not' : ''}${this.utils.printExpected(expected)}\n` +
(matcherResult ? `Received: ${this.utils.printReceived(matcherResult.actual)}` : '')
: () => this.utils.matcherHint(assertionName, undefined, undefined, { isNot: this.isNot }) +
'\n\n' +
`Locator: ${locator}\n` +
`Expected: ${this.utils.printExpected(expected)}\n` +
(matcherResult ? `Received: ${this.utils.printReceived(matcherResult.actual)}` : '');
return {
message,
pass,
name: assertionName,
expected,
actual: matcherResult?.actual,
};
},
});
Now we can use toHaveAmount in the test.
import { test, expect } from './fixtures';
test('amount', async () => {
await expect(page.locator('.cart')).toHaveAmount(4);
});
Compatibility with expect library
Do not confuse Playwright's expect with the expect library. The latter is not fully integrated with Playwright test runner, so make sure to use Playwright's own expect.
Combine custom matchers from multiple modules
You can combine custom matchers from multiple files or modules.
import { mergeTests, mergeExpects } from '@playwright/test';
import { test as dbTest, expect as dbExpect } from 'database-test-utils';
import { test as a11yTest, expect as a11yExpect } from 'a11y-test-utils';
export const expect = mergeExpects(dbExpect, a11yExpect);
export const test = mergeTests(dbTest, a11yTest);
import { test, expect } from './fixtures';
test('passes', async ({ database }) => {
await expect(database).toHaveDatabaseUser('admin');
});