Verify.Cli 1.0.392

Verify.Cli

A command-line tool that uses the Verify library for regular files (without requiring you to create a unit test project).

Installation

Install as .NET global tool

dotnet tool install -g Verify.Cli

Once installed, invoke directly via the verify command.

Usage

If you run this tool interactively, then you'll get a similar experience that you would using VerifyTests in a .NET unit test project. Verify.Cli will utilise any existing compatible file diff tool to display the diff.

verify --file <path to file to verify> [--verified-dir <directory>]

The first time you use Verify.Cli, it will output the contents of the file.

Options

• --file or -f: The file to verify (required)
• --verified-dir or -d: Directory to store/look for .verified files (optional)
• --scrub-inline-datetime: Format for inline date times to scrub, e.g., 'yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss.fffZ' (optional)
• --scrub-inline-pattern: Regex pattern to match inline strings for scrubbing, e.g., '"/astro/[^"]+"|(?<prefix>")/_astro/[^"]+(?<suffix>")' (optional)

Examples

Basic usage:

verify --file C:\tmp\example.txt

With custom verified files directory:

verify --file C:\tmp\example.txt --verified-dir C:\MyVerifiedFiles

This will look for the verified file at C:\MyVerifiedFiles\example.txt.verified.txt instead of the default location next to the source file.

With date time scrubbing:

verify --file C:\tmp\log.txt --scrub-inline-datetime "yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss.fffZ"

This will scrub inline date times matching the specified format from the file content before verification.

With pattern scrubbing:

verify --file C:\tmp\output.html --scrub-inline-pattern "\"/astro/[^\"]+\""

This will scrub inline strings matching the regex pattern (e.g., dynamic asset paths like "/astro/chunk-123.js") from the file content before verification.

With pattern scrubbing using named groups to preserve parts:

verify --file C:\tmp\output.html --scrub-inline-pattern "(?<prefix>\")/_astro/[^\"]+(?<suffix>\")"

This will replace the dynamic part while preserving the prefix and suffix (e.g., "/_astro/chunk-123.js" becomes the preserved prefix and suffix).

You can combine options:

verify --file C:\tmp\log.txt --verified-dir C:\MyVerifiedFiles --scrub-inline-datetime "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss" --scrub-inline-pattern "id=\"[^\"]+\""

When the files match, the tool exits with code 0 and produces no output.

Unhandled exception: VerifyException: Directory: C:\tmp
New:
  - Received: example.txt.received.txt
    Verified: example.txt.verified.txt

FileContent:

New:

Received: example.txt.received.txt
This is
a text file.

Your diff tool of choice (if found by the Verify's DiffEngine library) can then be used to compare to the verified file (if it exists), or create it (if the first time).

If the verified file matches the received file, then there is no output (and the exit code is zero).

If the received file is different from the verified file, then a diff will be shown in the console, a non-zero exit code will be returned, and if in an interactive environment with a supported diff tool, then that tool will be launched.

Unhandled exception: VerifyException: Directory: C:\tmp
NotEqual:
  - Received: example.txt.received.txt
    Verified: example.txt.verified.txt

FileContent:

NotEqual:

Received: example.txt.received.txt
This is
an updated text file.

Verified: example.txt.verified.txt
This is
a text file.

Example with Beyond Compare launched: