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4.4 Test|Task Tags and Filtering Execution

Learning Objectives
LO-4.4

Recall the purpose of Test|Task Tags in Robot Framework

In Robot Framework, tags offer a simple yet powerful mechanism for classifying and controlling the execution of tests|tasks. Tags are free-form text labels that can be assigned to tests|tasks to provide metadata, enable flexible test selection, and organize test results.

Tags are also used to create a statistical summary of the test|task results in the execution protocols.

Important Note: Tags are case-insensitive in Robot Framework, but the first appearance of a tag in a test|task is used as the tag name in reports and logs in its current case.

4.4.1 Assigning Tags to Tests|Tasks​

Learning Objectives
LO-4.4.1

Recall the syntax and different ways to assign tags to tests|tasks

Tags can be assigned to tests|tasks in several ways:

  1. At the Suite Level using the Test Tags setting in the *** Settings *** section or in an initialization file (__init__.robot). This assigns tags to all tests|tasks within the suite:

    *** Settings ***
    Test Tags    smoke    regression

    This will assign the tags smoke and regression to all tests|tasks in the suite.

  2. At the Test|Task Level using the [Tags] setting within individual tests|tasks. These tags are added in addition to any suite-level tags:

    *** Test Cases ***
    Valid Login Test|Task
        [Tags]    login    critical    -smoke
        Perform Login Steps

    This test|task will have the tags login, critical, and any tags assigned at the suite level, except smoke. Adding a minus sign (-) before a tag removes it from the test|task's tags.

  3. Using Variables in tags to dynamically assign tag values:

    *** Variables ***
    ${ENV}    production

    *** Test Cases ***
    Data Processing Test|Task
        [Tags]    environment:${ENV}
        Process Data

    This test|task will have a tag environment:production.

  4. By Keyword Set Tags or Remove Tags to dynamically assign or remove tags during test|task execution:

    See BuiltIn library documentation for more information.

4.4.2 Using Tags to Filter Execution​

Learning Objectives
LO-4.4.2

Understand how to filter tests|tasks using the command-line interface of Robot Framework

Tags can be used to select which tests|tasks are executed or skipped when running a suite. This is accomplished using command-line options when executing Robot Framework.

When filtering for tests|tasks with a specific tag, you should always use the lowercase version of the tag because possible logical operators are case-sensitive and uppercase. AND, OR, and NOT are the logical operators that can be used to combine tags in the filtering, but they are not part of this syllabus!

4.4.2.1 Including Tests|Tasks by Tags​

To include only tests|tasks that have a specific tag, use the --include (or -i) option followed by the tag name:

robot --include smoke path/to/tests

This command will execute only the tests|tasks that have the smoke tag.

4.4.2.2 Excluding Tests|Tasks by Tags​

To exclude tests|tasks that have a specific tag, use the --exclude (or -e) option followed by the tag name:

robot --exclude slow path/to/tests

This command will execute all tests|tasks except those that have the slow tag. The excluded tests|tasks will not be executed or logged at all. Use --skip to not execute tests|tasks but include them in the logs as skipped. See 4.5.1 Skipping By Tags Selection (CLI) for more information.

4.4.2.3 Combining Include and Exclude Options​

You can combine --include and --exclude options to fine-tune which tests|tasks are executed:

robot --include regression --exclude unstable path/to/tests

This command will execute tests|tasks that have the regression tag but exclude any that also have the unstable tag.

4.4.2.4 Using Tag Patterns​

Tags can include patterns using wildcards * and ? to match multiple tags:

  • * matches any number of characters.
  • ? matches any single character.

Examples:

  • Include tests|tasks with tags starting with feature-:

    robot --include feature-* path/to/tests

  • Exclude tests|tasks with tags ending with -deprecated:

    robot --exclude *-deprecated path/to/tests

4.4.3 Reserved Tags​

Tags starting with robot: are reserved for internal use by Robot Framework and should not be used in user-defined tags. Using own tags with this prefix may lead to unexpected behavior in test execution and reporting.

  • robot:exclude: Marks tests|tasks that should be excluded from execution similar to --exclude.
  • robot:skip: Marks tests|tasks that should be skipped during execution similar to --skip.