Improve docs for last-failed-no-failures

Improve documentation for last-failed-no-failures to make the different options and the functionality more clear. Closes pytest-dev#11354
fruch · Aug 29, 2023 · 76ba7db · 76ba7db
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diff --git a/doc/en/how-to/cache.rst b/doc/en/how-to/cache.rst
@@ -176,14 +176,21 @@ with more recent files coming first.
 Behavior when no tests failed in the last run
 ---------------------------------------------
 
-When no tests failed in the last run, or when no cached ``lastfailed`` data was
-found, ``pytest`` can be configured either to run all of the tests or no tests,
-using the ``--last-failed-no-failures`` option, which takes one of the following values:
+The ``--lfnf/--last-failed-no-failures`` option governs the behavior of ``--last-failed``.
+Determines whether to execute tests when there are no previously (known)
+failures or when no cached ``lastfailed`` data was found.
+
+There are two options:
+
+* ``all``:  when there are no known test failures, runs all tests (the full test suite). This is the default.
+* ``none``: when there are no known test failures, just emits a message stating this and exit successfully.
+
+Example:
 
 .. code-block:: bash
 
-    pytest --last-failed --last-failed-no-failures all    # run all tests (default behavior)
-    pytest --last-failed --last-failed-no-failures none   # run no tests and exit
+    pytest --last-failed --last-failed-no-failures all    # runs the full test suite (default behavior)
+    pytest --last-failed --last-failed-no-failures none   # runs no tests and exits successfully
 
 The new config.cache object
 --------------------------------

diff --git a/doc/en/reference/reference.rst b/doc/en/reference/reference.rst
@@ -1892,8 +1892,11 @@ All the command-line flags can be obtained by running ``pytest --help``::
                             tests. Optional argument: glob (default: '*').
       --cache-clear         Remove all cache contents at start of test run
       --lfnf={all,none}, --last-failed-no-failures={all,none}
-                            Which tests to run with no previously (known)
-                            failures
+                            With ``--lf``, determines whether to execute tests when there
+                            are no previously (known) failures or when no
+                            cached ``lastfailed`` data was found.
+                            ``all`` (the default) runs the full test suite again.
+                            ``none`` just emits a message about no known failures and exits successfully.
       --sw, --stepwise      Exit on test failure and continue from last failing
                             test next time
       --sw-skip, --stepwise-skip

diff --git a/src/_pytest/cacheprovider.py b/src/_pytest/cacheprovider.py
@@ -499,7 +499,11 @@ def pytest_addoption(parser: Parser) -> None:
         dest="last_failed_no_failures",
         choices=("all", "none"),
         default="all",
-        help="Which tests to run with no previously (known) failures",
+        help="With ``--lf``, determines whether to execute tests when there "
+        "are no previously (known) failures or when no "
+        "cached ``lastfailed`` data was found. "
+        "``all`` (the default) runs the full test suite again. "
+        "``none`` just emits a message about no known failures and exits successfully.",
     )