How can I pass prove (Test::More) an argument, e.g. an API URL?

Question

Parts of my test suite relies on an API URL. Sometimes I want to run my test using another URL. Is there a way to pass this argument to prove, or would I need to edit the file that defined the API URL?

Answer 1

Maybe set a default URL in the test program but allow it to be overridden by an environment variable.

my $url = $ENV{MY_TEST_URL} // 'http://api.example.com/';

Answer 2

The documentation for prove (perldoc prove) contains the following:

Arguments to Tests It is possible to supply arguments to tests. To do so separate them from prove's own arguments with the arisdottle, '::'. For example

 prove -v t/mytest.t :: --url http://example.com

would run t/mytest.t with the options '--url http://example.com'. When running multiple tests they will each receive the same arguments.

Thus, the parts after the :: will appear in @ARGV for the test script. I prefer offering a combination of options for passing args. For example:

my $url = $ARGV[0] // $ENV{'TEST_URL'};