Pytest - Grouping the Tests

In this chapter, we will learn how to group the tests using markers.

Pytest allows us to use markers on test functions. Markers are used to set various features/attributes to test functions. Pytest provides many inbuilt markers such as xfail, skip and parametrize. Apart from that, users can create their own marker names. Markers are applied on the tests using the syntax given below −

@pytest.mark.<markername>

To use markers, we have to import pytest module in the test file. We can define our own marker names to the tests and run the tests having those marker names.

To run the marked tests, we can use the following syntax −

pytest -m <markername> -v

-m <markername> represents the marker name of the tests to be executed.

Update our test files test_compare.py and test_square.py with the following code. We are defining 3 markers great, square, others.

test_compare.py

import pytest
@pytest.mark.great
def test_greater():
   num = 100
   assert num > 100

@pytest.mark.great
def test_greater_equal():
   num = 100
   assert num >= 100

@pytest.mark.others
def test_less():
   num = 100
   assert num < 200

test_square.py

============================ test session starts ================================
platform win32 -- Python 3.14.2, pytest-9.0.2, pluggy-1.6.0 
-- C:\Users\mahes\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python314\python.exe
cachedir: .pytest_cache
rootdir: D:\Projects\python\myenv\automation
collected 5 items / 4 deselected / 1 selected

test_compare.py::test_equality FAILED                                      [100%]

============================ FAILURES ===========================================
____________________________ test_equality ______________________________________

    @pytest.mark.others
    def test_equality():
>   assert 10 == 11
E      assert 10 == 11

test_compare.py:16: AssertionError
============================ short test summary info ============================
FAILED test_compare.py::test_equality - assert 10 == 11
============================ 1 failed, 4 deselected, 3 warnings in 0.07s ========

Similarly, we can run tests with other markers also great, compare