CODEWITHSUNDEEP
rubytestingrspecinstance
Dillon Benson
Dillon Benson

Reputation: 4440

Using RSpec to check if something is an instance of another object

I need a way to check if an object is an instance of another object using RSpec. For example:

describe "new shirt" do
  it "should be an instance of a Shirt object"
    # How can i check if it is an instance of a shirt object
  end
end

Upvotes: 77

Views: 47692

Answers (2)

Dillon Benson
Dillon Benson

Reputation: 4440

The preferred syntax is:

expect(@object).to be_a Shirt

The older syntax is:

@object.should be_an_instance_of Shirt

Note that there is a very subtle difference between the two. If Shirt were to inherit from Garment then both of these expectations will pass:

expect(@object).to be_a Shirt
expect(@object).to be_a Garment

If you do and @object is a Shirt, then the second expectation will fail:

@object.should be_an_instance_of Shirt
@object.should be_an_instance_of Garment

Upvotes: 163

Chris Salzberg
Chris Salzberg

Reputation: 27374

You mean you want to check if an object is an instance of a class? If so, that's easy, just use class:

@object.class.should == Shirt

Upvotes: 8

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