How can I effectively share helper functions across test files in a Go package?

Shared Test Code Placement in Go Packages

Within a Go package that includes multiple source files, it's common to create separate test files for each source file. However, if your tests require shared helper functions, it's not ideal to include these functions in the package source files or duplicate them in each test file.

To address this, Go provides a convenient approach:

Test Files within the Same Test Package:

Test files that use the same package clause belong to the same test package. This means they can refer to each other's identifiers, both exported and unexported, without explicit import statements.

Usage:

1. Select any one of the test files.
2. Create a named function, such as util(), that contains your shared code.
3. From other test files, simply call this function by its name.

Example:

Consider a package called "a" with the following files:

a/
    a.go
    b.go
    a_test.go
    b_test.go

If a_test.go contains a helper function util(), then b_test.go can access it without any imports.

Additional Considerations:

• You can combine multiple test functions into a single _test.go file, regardless of the number of source files.
• Remember, test files share visibility only within the same test package. Different test packages will not have access to each other's identifiers.

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