Registering markers in pytest.ini - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

🧠 Conceptual

intermediate

Purpose of registering markers in pytest.ini

Why is it important to register custom markers in the pytest.ini file when using pytest?

A To automatically run all tests without specifying any marker

B To disable all tests that do not have a marker

C To avoid warnings about unknown markers and enable filtering tests by those markers

D To change the default test discovery pattern

💡 Hint

Think about what happens if you use a marker that pytest does not recognize.

Registering markers in pytest.ini tells pytest about your custom markers. This prevents warnings and allows you to select tests by marker using command line options.

❓ Predict Output

intermediate

Output when using unregistered marker

What warning or error will pytest show when running tests with an unregistered custom marker?

PyTest

[test_sample.py]
import pytest

@pytest.mark.slow
def test_example():
    assert True

# pytest.ini does NOT register 'slow' marker

A WARNING: Unknown pytest.mark.slow - is this a typo? You can register markers in pytest.ini

B ERROR: Marker 'slow' not found. Test run aborted.

C No warnings or errors, test runs normally

D SyntaxError: invalid marker usage

💡 Hint

Think about pytest's behavior when it sees a marker it does not know.

Pytest shows a warning about unknown markers if they are not registered in pytest.ini but still runs the tests.

❓ locator

advanced

Correct pytest.ini marker registration syntax

Which of the following is the correct way to register a custom marker named database in pytest.ini?

A

[pytest]
markers = database; mark tests that require database access

B

[pytest]
markers = database - mark tests that require database access

C

[pytest]
markers = database # mark tests that require database access

D

[pytest]
markers = database: mark tests that require database access

💡 Hint

Look for the correct syntax for comments in pytest.ini under markers.

The correct syntax uses a colon ':' after the marker name followed by a description. Other separators cause parsing errors or are ignored.

❓ assertion

advanced

Assertion to check marker registration effect

Given the following pytest.ini and test code, which assertion correctly verifies that the api marker is registered and can be used to select tests?

PyTest

[pytest.ini]
[pytest]
markers = api: mark tests as API tests

[test_api.py]
import pytest

@pytest.mark.api
def test_api_call():
    assert True

A assert 'api' in pytest.markers

B assert any(m.startswith('api:') for m in pytest.config.getini('markers'))

C assert 'api' in pytest.ini

D assert pytest.mark.api is not None

💡 Hint

Think about how pytest exposes ini options in code.

The correct way to check registered markers programmatically is to access pytest.config.getini('markers') which returns a list of registered markers.

❓ framework

expert

Effect of missing marker registration on test selection

If a custom marker integration is used in tests but NOT registered in pytest.ini, what happens when you run pytest -m integration?

A Pytest shows a warning about unknown marker but runs tests with the integration marker

B Pytest runs all tests ignoring the marker filter

C Pytest raises an error and aborts the test run

D Pytest runs only tests with the integration marker without warnings

💡 Hint

Consider how pytest handles unknown markers during test selection.

Pytest warns about unknown markers but when filtering with -m for an unregistered marker, it still selects and runs the matching tests.