diff --git a/R/test.data.table.R b/R/test.data.table.R
index 4d2ab94101..748b61505d 100644
--- a/R/test.data.table.R
+++ b/R/test.data.table.R
@@ -249,7 +249,11 @@ gc_mem = function() {
   # nocov end
 }
 
-test = function(num,x,y=TRUE,error=NULL,warning=NULL,message=NULL,output=NULL,notOutput=NULL,ignore.warning=NULL) {
+test = function(num,x,y=TRUE,error=NULL,warning=NULL,message=NULL,output=NULL,notOutput=NULL,ignore.warning=NULL,options=NULL) {
+  if (!is.null(options)) {
+    old_options <- do.call('options', as.list(options)) # as.list(): allow passing named character vector for convenience
+    on.exit(options(old_options), add=TRUE)
+  }
   # Usage:
   # i) tests that x equals y when both x and y are supplied, the most common usage
   # ii) tests that x is TRUE when y isn't supplied
@@ -280,7 +284,7 @@ test = function(num,x,y=TRUE,error=NULL,warning=NULL,message=NULL,output=NULL,no
     foreign = get("foreign", parent.frame())
     showProgress = get("showProgress", parent.frame())
     time = nTest = RSS = NULL  # to avoid 'no visible binding' note
-    if (num>0) on.exit( {
+    if (num>0) on.exit( add=TRUE, {
        took = proc.time()[3L]-lasttime  # so that prep time between tests is attributed to the following test
        timings[as.integer(num), `:=`(time=time+took, nTest=nTest+1L), verbose=FALSE]
        if (memtest) {
diff --git a/man/test.Rd b/man/test.Rd
index c9763b247c..ddf1198bf2 100644
--- a/man/test.Rd
+++ b/man/test.Rd
@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@
 \usage{
 test(num, x, y = TRUE,
      error = NULL, warning = NULL, message = NULL,
-     output = NULL, notOutput = NULL, ignore.warning = NULL)
+     output = NULL, notOutput = NULL, ignore.warning = NULL,
+     options = NULL)
 }
 \arguments{
 \item{num}{ A unique identifier for a test, helpful in identifying the source of failure when testing is not working. Currently, we use a manually-incremented system with tests formatted as \code{n.m}, where essentially \code{n} indexes an issue and \code{m} indexes aspects of that issue. For the most part, your new PR should only have one value of \code{n} (scroll to the end of \code{inst/tests/tests.Rraw} to see the next available ID) and then index the tests within your PR by increasing \code{m}. Note -- \code{n.m} is interpreted as a number, so \code{123.4} and \code{123.40} are actually the same -- please \code{0}-pad as appropriate. Test identifiers are checked to be in increasing order at runtime to prevent duplicates being possible. }
@@ -19,6 +20,7 @@ test(num, x, y = TRUE,
 \item{output}{ If you are testing the printing/console output behaviour; e.g. with \code{verbose=TRUE} or \code{options(datatable.verbose=TRUE)}. Again, regex-compatible and case sensitive. }
 \item{notOutput}{ Or if you are testing that a feature does \emph{not} print particular console output. Case insensitive (unlike output) so that the test does not incorrectly pass just because the string is not found due to case. }
 \item{ignore.warning}{ A single character string. Any warnings emitted by \code{x} that contain this string are dropped. Remaining warnings are compared to the expected \code{warning} as normal. }
+\item{options}{ A named list of options to set for the duration of the test. Any code evaluated during this call to `test()` (usually, `x`, or maybe `y`) will run with the named options set, and the original options will be restored on return. This is a named list since different options can have different types in general, but in typical usage, only one option is set at a time, in which case a named vector is also accepted. }
 }
 \note{
    \code{NA_real_} and \code{NaN} are treated as equal, use \code{identical} if distinction is needed. See examples below.