Test::MockTime(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation Test::MockTime(3)NAMETest::MockTime - Replaces actual time with simulated time
SYNOPSIS
use Test::MockTime qw( :all );
set_relative_time(-600);
# do some tests depending on time increasing from 600 seconds ago
set_absolute_time(0);
# do some more tests depending on time starting from the epoch
# epoch may vary according to platform. see perlport.
set_fixed_time(CORE::time());
# do some more tests depending on time staying at the current actual time
set_absolute_time('1970-01-01T00:00:00Z');
# do some tests depending on time starting at Unix epoch time
set_fixed_time('01/01/1970 00:00:00', '%m/%d/%Y %H:%M:%S');
# do some tests depending on time staying at the Unix epoch time
restore_time();
# resume normal service
DESCRIPTION
This module was created to enable test suites to test code at specific
points in time. Specifically it overrides localtime, gmtime and time at
compile time and then relies on the user supplying a mock time via
set_relative_time, set_absolute_time or set_fixed_time to alter future
calls to gmtime,time or localtime.
Functions
set_absolute_time
If given a single, numeric argument, the argument is an absolute
time (for example, if 0 is supplied, the absolute time will be the
epoch), and calculates the offset to allow subsequent calls to
time, gmtime and localtime to reflect this.
for example, in the following code
Time::Mock::set_absolute_time(0);
my ($start) = time;
sleep 2;
my ($end) = time;
The $end variable should contain 2 seconds past the epoch;
If given two arguments, the first argument is taken to be an
absolute time in some string format (for example, "01/01/1970
00:00:00"). The second argument is taken to be a "strptime" format
string (for example, "%m/%d/%Y %H:%M:%S"). If a single argument is
given, but that argument is not numeric, a "strptime" format string
of "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ" is assumed.
for example, in the following code
Time::Mock::set_absolute_time('1970-01-01T00:00:00Z');
my ($start) = time;
sleep 2;
my ($end) = time;
The $end variable should contain 2 seconds past the Unix epoch;
set_relative_time($relative)
takes as an argument an relative value from current time (for
example, if -10 is supplied, current time be converted to actual
machine time - 10 seconds) and calculates the offset to allow
subsequent calls to time,gmtime and localtime to reflect this.
for example, in the following code
my ($start) = time;
Time::Mock::set_relative_time(-600);
sleep 600;
my ($end) = time;
The $end variable should contain either the same or very similar
values to the $start variable.
set_fixed_time
If given a single, numeric argument, the argument is an absolute
time (for example, if 0 is supplied, the absolute time will be the
epoch). All subsequent calls to gmtime, localtime and time will
return this value.
for example, in the following code
Time::Mock::set_fixed_time(time)
my ($start) = time;
sleep 3;
my ($end) = time;
the $end variable and the $start variable will contain the same
results
If given two arguments, the first argument is taken to be an
absolute time in some string format (for example, "01/01/1970
00:00:00"). The second argument is taken to be a "strptime" format
string (for example, "%m/%d/%Y %H:%M:%S"). If a single argument is
given, but that argument is not numeric, a "strptime" format string
of "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ" is assumed.
restore()
restore the default time handling values. "restore_time" is an
alias. When exported with the 'all' tag, this subroutine is
exported as "restore_time".
AUTHOR
David Dick <ddick@cpan.org>
PREREQUISITES
Time::Piece 1.08 or greater
BUGS
Probably.
COPYRIGHT
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the same terms as Perl itself.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to a use.perl.org journal entry
<http://use.perl.org/~geoff/journal/20660> by Geoffrey Young.
perl v5.14.0 2008-06-29 Test::MockTime(3)
