Wildcards

Wildcards let you match dynamic output without hardcoding values. Use them in any output-based assertion when the exact value changes between runs.

Available Wildcards

Wildcard	Matches	Regex Pattern
{{any}}	Any non-empty content (non-greedy)	.+?
{{int}}	Integer (optional negative sign)	-?\d+
{{float}}	Float or integer	-?\d+\.?\d*
{{uuid}}	UUID v4 format	[0-9a-f]{8}-[0-9a-f]{4}-...
{{date}}	ISO date (YYYY-MM-DD)	\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}
{{time}}	Time (HH:MM:SS)	\d{2}:\d{2}:\d{2}
{{datetime}}	ISO datetime	\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}T\d{2}:\d{2}:\d{2}...
{{...}}	Any content including newlines (non-greedy)	[\s\S]*?

Usage

Wildcards work in HTML comment assertions:

```php
echo 'Request took 42ms at ' . date('Y-m-d');
```
<!-- doctest: Request took {{int}}ms at {{date}} -->

Examples

Timestamps

echo 'Generated: ' . date('Y-m-d H:i:s');

UUIDs

echo sprintf('User ID: %s', '550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000');

Mixed dynamic content

echo json_encode([
    'id' => 42,
    'created' => '2024-01-15T10:30:00Z',
    'price' => 19.99,
]);

Multi-line with {{...}}

The {{...}} wildcard spans across newlines, useful for matching variable-length content:

echo "Header\nSome variable content\nhere\nFooter";

How It Works

1. DocTest checks if the expected output contains any {{...}} patterns
2. The expected string is escaped for regex
3. Each wildcard placeholder is replaced with its regex pattern
4. The resulting regex is matched against the actual output with preg_match()

Combining Wildcards

You can use multiple wildcards in a single assertion:

echo sprintf('[%s] %s: Processed %d items in %.2fs',
    date('Y-m-d'),
    'INFO',
    150,
    0.42
);

Tips

• {{any}} is non-greedy — it matches the shortest possible string
• {{...}} is also non-greedy but can match newlines, making it useful for skipping variable blocks
• {{int}} matches optional negative signs: -42 matches {{int}}
• {{float}} also matches integers: 42 matches {{float}}
• Wildcards are case-sensitive: {{INT}} is not recognized