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[Testing & Quality](/categories/testing) 4. / 5. approvals/approval-tests ActiveLibrary[Testing & Quality](/categories/testing) approvals/approval-tests ======================== Approval Testing for your legacy projects. 33291.1k↓28%10[5 PRs](https://github.com/approvals/ApprovalTests.php/pulls)PHP Since Feb 24Pushed 2y ago3 watchersCompare [ Source](https://github.com/approvals/ApprovalTests.php)[ Packagist](https://packagist.org/packages/approvals/approval-tests)[ RSS](/packages/approvals-approval-tests/feed)WikiDiscussions Main Synced 1mo ago READMEChangelogDependenciesVersions (1)Used By (0) [![build](https://github.com/approvals/ApprovalTests.php/actions/workflows/build.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/approvals/ApprovalTests.php/actions/workflows/build.yml) [![License](https://camo.githubusercontent.com/a549a7a30bacba7bfceebdc207a8e86c3f2c02995a2527640dca30048fd2b64e/68747470733a2f2f696d672e736869656c64732e696f2f62616467652f4c6963656e73652d417061636865253230322e302d626c75652e737667)](https://opensource.org/licenses/Apache-2.0) **Table of Contents** - [ApprovalTests.PHP](#approvaltestsphp) - [What can it be used for?](#what-can-it-be-used-for) - [How to get it](#how-to-get-it) - [Video Tutorials](#video-tutorials) - [Podcasts](#podcasts) - [Examples](#examples) - [Approved File Artifacts](#approved-file-artifacts) - [More Info](#more-info) - [LICENSE](#license) - [Questions?](#questions) ApprovalTests.PHP ================= [](#approvaltestsphp) Capturing Human Intelligence - ApprovalTests is an open source assertion/verification library to aid unit testing. It is compatible with PHPUnit What can it be used for? ------------------------ [](#what-can-it-be-used-for) Approval Tests can be used for verifying objects that require more than a simple assert. They also come prepackaged with utilities for some common scenarios including - HashMaps & Collections - Long Strings - Log Files - Xml - Html - Json (see [features](docs/features.md)) How to get it ------------- [](#how-to-get-it) It's on [Packagist](https://packagist.org/packages/approvals/approval-tests); search for 'approval-tests'. If you're using Composer, you can add it as follows: ``` composer req --dev approvals/approval-tests ``` [Video Tutorials](http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFBA98F47156EFAA9&feature=view_all) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [](#video-tutorials) You can watch a bunch of short videos on getting started and [using ApprovalTests](http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFBA98F47156EFAA9&feature=view_all) at YouTube. These cover approval tests in Java and .NET, but the same concepts apply. Podcasts -------- [](#podcasts) If you prefer auditory learning, you might enjoy the following podcast (Note: Some of these talk about the .Net and Java side) - [Cucumber Podcast](https://cucumber.io/blog/2017/01/26/approval-testing) - [Hanselminutes](http://www.hanselminutes.com/360/approval-tests-with-llewellyn-falco) - [Herding Code](http://www.developerfusion.com/media/122649/herding-code-117-llewellyn-falcon-on-approval-tests/) - [The Watir Podcast](http://watirpodcast.com/podcast-53/) Examples -------- [](#examples) ApprovalTests eats it own dogfood, so the best examples are in the source code itself. None the less, Here's a quick look at some [Sample Code](https://github.com/approvals/ApprovalTests.php/blob/9ce5bbd043ea2720bdfe5bbdf25f23a225329485/tests/ApprovalTest.php#L8) ``` class ApprovalTest extends TestCase { public function testVerifyArray() { $list = ['zero', 'one', 'two', 'three', 'four', 'five']; Approvals::verifyList($list); } ``` [snippet source](/tests/ApprovalTest.php#L8-L16 "Snippet source file") | [anchor](#snippet-array_example "Start of snippet") Will Produce a File ``` [0] -> zero [1] -> one [2] -> two [3] -> three [4] -> four [5] -> five ``` [snippet source](/tests/approvals/ApprovalTest.testVerifyArray.approved.txt#L1-L6 "Snippet source file") | [anchor](#snippet-tests/approvals/ApprovalTest.testVerifyArray.approved.txt "Start of snippet") Simply rename this to ApprovalTest.testVerifyArray.approved.txt and the test will now pass. Approved File Artifacts ----------------------- [](#approved-file-artifacts) The `*.approved.*` files must be checked into source your source control. This can be an issue with git as it will change the line endings. The suggested fix is to add `*.approved.* binary` to your `.gitattributes` More Info --------- [](#more-info) - [Website](http://approvaltests.sourceforge.net/) - [Blog](http://blog.approvaltests.com/) - [Getting Started Doc](https://github.com/approvals/ApprovalTests.Java/blob/master/build/resources/approval_tests/documentation/ApprovalTests%20-%20GettingStarted.md) LICENSE ------- [](#license) [Apache 2.0 License](https://github.com/SignalR/SignalR/blob/master/LICENSE.md) Questions? ---------- [](#questions) twitter: [@LlewellynFalco](https://twitter.com/#!/llewellynfalco) or [@notthatjoshkel](https://twitter.com/notthatjoshkel) or #ApprovalTests ### Health Score 29 — LowBetter than 59% of packages Maintenance20 Infrequent updates — may be unmaintained Popularity46 Moderate usage in the ecosystem Community17 Small or concentrated contributor base Maturity27 Early-stage or recently created project Bus Factor2 2 contributors hold 50%+ of commits How is this calculated?**Maintenance (25%)** — Last commit recency, latest release date, and issue-to-star ratio. Uses a 2-year decay window. **Popularity (30%)** — Total and monthly downloads, GitHub stars, and forks. Logarithmic scaling prevents top-heavy scores. **Community (15%)** — Contributors, dependents, forks, watchers, and maintainers. Measures real ecosystem engagement. **Maturity (30%)** — Project age, version count, PHP version support, and release stability. ### Community Maintainers ![](https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/5af468831ce52e6ae9d4b43ea4164db6b90a9ce9a93de298b7a92fb12bcc3fda?d=identicon)[llewellyn.falco](/maintainers/llewellyn.falco) --- Top Contributors [![joshkel](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/476338?v=4)](https://github.com/joshkel "joshkel (34 commits)")[![mattcan](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/621541?v=4)](https://github.com/mattcan "mattcan (27 commits)")[![isidore](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/10874?v=4)](https://github.com/isidore "isidore (17 commits)")[![underq](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/1336062?v=4)](https://github.com/underq "underq (3 commits)")[![kelleyjd](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/43043927?v=4)](https://github.com/kelleyjd "kelleyjd (1 commits)") ### Embed Badge ![Health badge](/badges/approvals-approval-tests/health.svg) ``` [![Health](https://phpackages.com/badges/approvals-approval-tests/health.svg)](https://phpackages.com/packages/approvals-approval-tests) ``` ### Alternatives [phpspec/prophecy Highly opinionated mocking framework for PHP 5.3+ 8.5k551.7M682](/packages/phpspec-prophecy)[vimeo/psalm A static analysis tool for finding errors in PHP applications 5.8k77.5M6.7k](/packages/vimeo-psalm)[brianium/paratest Parallel testing for PHP 2.5k118.8M754](/packages/brianium-paratest)[beberlei/assert Thin assertion library for input validation in business models. 2.4k96.9M570](/packages/beberlei-assert)[mikey179/vfsstream Virtual file system to mock the real file system in unit tests. 1.4k108.0M2.7k](/packages/mikey179-vfsstream)[orchestra/testbench Laravel Testing Helper for Packages Development 2.2k39.1M32.1k](/packages/orchestra-testbench) PHPackages © 2026 [Directory](/)[Categories](/categories)[Trending](/trending)[Changelog](/changelog)[Analyze](/analyze)