Chai.js: Object contains/includes

Question

Chai has an include method. I want to test to see if an object contains another object. For example:

var origin = {
  name: "John",
  otherObj: {
    title: "Example"
  }
}

I want to use Chai to test if this object contains the following (which it does)

var match = {
  otherObj: {
    title: "Example"
  }
}

Doing this does not appear to work:

origin.should.include(match)

eagleeye · Answer 1 · 2020-02-02T12:33:28.800

34

Hei, just published chai-subset. Check this out: https://www.npmjs.org/package/chai-subset This should work for you)

 var chai = require('chai');
 var chaiSubset = require('chai-subset');
 chai.use(chaiSubset);

 var obj = {
     a: 'b',
     c: 'd',
     e: {
         foo: 'bar',
         baz: {
             qux: 'quux'
         }
     }
 };

 expect(obj).to.containSubset({
     e: {
         foo: 'bar',
         baz: {
             qux: 'quux'
         }
     }
 });

edited Feb 02 '20 at 12:33

answered Jul 15 '14 at 11:59

eagleeye

438
4
11

Nice plugin, but this answer should include an usage example, otherwise you may be flagged. – gustavohenke Mar 02 '15 at 00:15
2

would b great if it will tell exactly which property is failing an assertion – Shining Love Star Mar 26 '16 at 05:02
@AdamGoldman Feel free to create issue or even PR in github repo – eagleeye May 11 '16 at 07:59

score 18 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 15 '16 at 15:39

18

The include and contain assertions can be used as either property based language chains or as methods to assert the inclusion of an object in an array or a substring in a string. When used as language chains, they toggle the contain flag for the keys assertion. [emphasis mine]

So if you're invoking include on an object (not an array or a string), then it only serves to toggle the contain flag for the keys assertion. By the looks of your example, testing for deep equality would make more sense, possibly checking for the key first.

origins.should.include.keys("otherObj");
origins.otherObj.should.deep.equal(match.otherObj);

Actually, now I browse the other examples, you would probably be happiest with this :

origins.should.have.deep.property("otherObj", match.otherObj)

edited Nov 15 '16 at 15:39

Kelly

40,173
4
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51

answered Feb 28 '13 at 20:42

Frances McMullin

5,516
2
18
19

2

I did read the docs, but sometimes you need a bit more context, you know? Thanks for this answer. – Feb 28 '13 at 21:06
1

That's true, I didn't intend to be mean about it. It's just that the docs for chai are actually quite excellent compared to most docs I encounter (they include examples and everything! =P). I'm glad I was able to help – Frances McMullin Feb 28 '13 at 21:15

score 12 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 11 '19 at 21:04

In chai 4.2.0, for example you can use deep include

chaijs doc examples:

// Target array deeply (but not strictly) includes `{a: 1}`
expect([{a: 1}]).to.deep.include({a: 1});
expect([{a: 1}]).to.not.include({a: 1});

// Target object deeply (but not strictly) includes `x: {a: 1}`
expect({x: {a: 1}}).to.deep.include({x: {a: 1}});
expect({x: {a: 1}}).to.not.include({x: {a: 1}});

score 6 · Answer 4 · answered May 13 '20 at 03:54

6

If you know the level of the subobject you can simply use:

expect(origin.otherObj).to.include(match.otherObj);

https://www.chaijs.com/api/bdd/

answered May 13 '20 at 03:54

Sebastien Horin

10,803
4
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score -4 · Answer 5 · answered Apr 20 '16 at 10:39

-4

In Chai 1.5.0 you will find handy method

includeDeepMembers

http://chaijs.com/releases/

answered Apr 20 '16 at 10:39

machnicki

491
5
3

3

I upvoted this but its actually wrong. includeDeepMembers only works on arrays, not objects. – nhjk Oct 08 '16 at 11:37

Chai.js: Object contains/includes

5 Answers5