QST: Is Using pandas.test() Equivalent to Running pytest Directly?

[angiolye24]

Research

• I have searched the [pandas] tag on StackOverflow for similar questions.

• I have asked my usage related question on StackOverflow.

Link to question on StackOverflow

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/79244236/is-using-pandas-test-equivalent-to-running-pytest-directly

Question about pandas

I'm working with the pandas codebase and using the _tester.py module located at pandas/util/_tester.py to execute tests. Specifically, I'm calling the pandas.test() function to run the test suite. Here’s how I’m doing it:

import pandas
pandas.test()

I can run the same tests directly with a pytest command, for example:

python3.12 -m pytest --cov=pandas --cov-report=term-missing --cov-branch pandas/tests/api/test_api.py::TestApi::test_api_indexers

Are these two approaches (pandas.test() and running pytest directly) functionally equivalent?

Does using pandas.test() introduce any additional overhead compared to directly invoking pytest? For example:

Does the wrapper preprocess or filter the test suite in any way?

Are there any significant differences in performance or the way results are handled?

In large test suites, would one approach be more efficient or recommended over the other?

Thanks in advance!

[mroeschke]

Yes, both invocations are functionally equivalent. The only difference is that pandas.test is less flexible as it sets some flags which cannot be changed. Generally I would recommend just using the command line invocation if available

https://github.com/pandas-dev/pandas/blob/main/pandas/util/_tester.py