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Python Python Testing First Steps With Testing Your First unittest Test Case

Posted by Nitin Chauhan
Nitin Chauhan
Courses Plus Student 277 Points

Syntax error: python -m unittest test.py

Hi,

I tried testing the same code Kenny wrote in the video on my laptop. But the shell says syntax error and highlights unittest. I am not sure what the problem is. It was showing the same error when I wrote a doctest and tried to test it. Kindly help.

1 Answer

Nate Paradis
Nate Paradis
6,784 Points
Nate Paradis
Nate Paradis
6,784 Points

It looks like you are trying to run python -m unittest test.py in the Python shell. I am guessing your output looks like this?

Nate’s-MacBook-Pro:~ nate.paradis$ python3
Python 3.7.5 (default, Nov  1 2019, 02:16:32) 
[Clang 11.0.0 (clang-1100.0.33.8)] on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> python -m unittest test.py
  File "<stdin>", line 1
    python -m unittest test.py
                     ^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

This command needs to be run from like a terminal window. If you are stuck in the Python shell you can quit using exit(). Good luck.