# 5.5 `test.test_support` -- Utility functions for tests

The `test.test_support` module provides support for Python's regression tests.

This module defines the following exceptions:

exception `TestFailed`
  Exception to be raised when a test fails.

exception `TestSkipped`
  Subclass of `TestFailed`. Raised when a test is skipped. This occurs when a needed resource (such as a network connection) is not available at the time of testing.

exception `ResourceDenied`
  Subclass of `TestSkipped`. Raised when a resource (such as a network connection) is not available. Raised by the `requires()` function.

The `test.test_support` module defines the following constants:

`verbose`
  `True` when verbose output is enabled. Should be checked when more detailed information is desired about a running test. verbose is set by `test.regrtest`.

`have_unicode`
  `True` when Unicode support is available.

`is_jython`
  `True` if the running interpreter is Jython.

`TESTFN`
  Set to the path that a temporary file may be created at. Any temporary that is created should be closed and unlinked (removed).

The `test.test_support` module defines the following functions:

`forget`( | module_name)

  Removes the module named module_name from `sys.modules` and deletes any byte-compiled files of the module.

`is_resource_enabled`( | resource)

  Returns `True` if resource is enabled and available. The list of available resources is only set when `test.regrtest` is executing the tests.

`requires`( | resource[, msg])

  Raises `ResourceDenied` if resource is not available. msg is the argument to `ResourceDenied` if it is raised. Always returns true if called by a function whose `__name__` is `'__main__'`. Used when tests are executed by `test.regrtest`.

`findfile`( | filename)

  Return the path to the file named filename. If no match is found filename is returned. This does not equal a failure since it could be the path to the file.

`run_unittest`( | *classes)

  Execute `unittest.TestCase` subclasses passed to the function. The function scans the classes for methods starting with the prefix "`test_`" and executes the tests individually. This is the preferred way to execute tests.

`run_suite`( | suite[, testclass])

  Execute the `unittest.TestSuite` instance suite. The optional argument testclass accepts one of the test classes in the suite so as to print out more detailed information on where the testing suite originated from.