behat, gherkin and regex: using "not" or not

Question

I have behat conditions which I want to cover with on function, using "not": Given this is happening and Given this is NOT happening. I can't find a regular expression that works though.

Here is what I'd like to achieve:

/**
 * @Given /^this is<regexCheckingNOT> happening$/
 */
public function thisIsHappening($not)
{
    if ($not) {
        // do this
    }

    // do that anyway
}

I tried these without success:

• @Given /^this is(? NOT| ) happening$/
• @Given /^this is( )?(NOT)? happening$/

and I cannot find a way to do this.

Answer 1

You can accomplish what you're trying to do by making " not" optional:

/**
 * @Given /^this is( not)? happening$/
 */
public function thisIsHappening($not = null)
{
    if (null !== $not) {
        // do this
    }

    // do that anyway
}

You'll need to provide a default value (i.e. null) as this argument will not be present for the "this is happening" step.

However, I'd consider making this two separate methods to make them simpler:

/**
 * @Given this is happening
 */
public function thisIsHappening()
{
    // do that anyway
}

/**
 * @Given this is not happening
 */
public function thisIsNotHappening()
{
    // do this

    // do that anyway if you need something to happen in both cases
    $this->thisIsHappening();
}