Run Specific Rspec Tests Under Specific Directory

You can run specific rspec tests under a specific directory by

• specifying the directory
• using an rspec tag option

For example, if you want to run model specs that you've tagged as work in progress (wip) do the following:

Add tag to spec

require 'spec_helper'

describe HomeController do
  render_views
  it "Logs in Person with non-blank name", :lex_tag => 'wip' do
    person = Factory(:Person, name: "non-blank name")
    get :login
    response.should redirect_to(people_path)
  end
  it "does not log in Person with blank name" do
    person = Factory(:Person, name: "") # blank name
    get :login
    response.should redirect_to(root_path)
  end
end

Run spec like so

$ be rspec --pattern spec/models/*_spec.rb --tag lex_tag:wip

In this example, we are running model specs that do not have a tag named ":lex_tag" with a value of "wip"

Summary

By specifying the directory, you limit the number of specs to run to a logical grouping.

By using rspec tags, you can be very specific about which individual tests you run.

Notes

• You can negate a tag using the "~" character
• To be compatible with the Cucumber syntax, tags can optionally start with a @, that will be ignored. Example: @lex_tag
• There is nothing special about "lex_tag", you can name your tag nearly anything, but using a name allows multiple developers to annotate without confusion.
• You would not want to check specs into your source code repository that had tag names that referenced individuals
• You might want to use tags to group specs according to other user acceptance testing criteria or perhaps tag tests for particular server deployment environments
• So, tags can be used to group specs, not by static folder directories but by any criteria you wish

References

https://www.relishapp.com/rspec/rspec-core/v/2-3/docs/command-line/tag-option#exclude-examples-with-a-name:value-tag