In Rails' rspec, how do I write/edit my test file so that examples in a specific context are run in a set order?

Question

I'm using Rails 4.2 with RSpec 3.4.0. If I want to run all examples in the order in which the appear in a file, I can run

bundle exec rspec  --order defined spec/models/my_model_spec.rb

But what if I only want to run the examples in a specific describe block in a specific order? It there any way I can do that by adding some attributes or making annotations in the file itself (as opposed to having to add them in on the command line)?

Answer 1

If you just want to run the specs within a single describe or context , just add the line number of the describe or context statement to the end of the spec file name.

bundle exec rspec  --order defined scec/models/my_model_spec.rb:123

You can also run a specific example group by name using the --example option.

bundle exec rspec  --example "context name" spec/models/my_model_spec.rb

Though, that second choice will use a regex to find the string. So, it will find all instances of that string in any describe , context , or it statement.