pytest.approx doesn't support comparison between arrays and scalars

[tadeu]

Sometimes we want to assert that all elements from an array are approximately equal to a single value, so this code comes naturally to mind:

assert some_array == approx(1.0)

the problem is that pytest.approx doesn't support this (the workaround is to create a second array with the same shape and filled with the scalar).

Here is a test case:

from pytest import approx
import numpy as np

def test_approx_array_scalar():
    assert np.array([1.0, 1.0]) == approx(1.0)

def test_approx_scalar_array():
    assert 1.0 == approx(np.array([1.0, 1.0]))

here are the outputs:

______________________________________________ test_approx_array_scalar _______________________________________________
                                                                                                                       
    def test_approx_array_scalar():                                                                                    
>       assert np.array([1.0, 1.0]) == approx(1.0)                                                                     
E       ValueError: The truth value of an array with more than one element is ambiguous. Use a.any() or a.all()        
                                                                                                                       
test_approx.py:5: ValueError                                                                                           
______________________________________________ test_approx_scalar_array _______________________________________________
                                                                                                                       
    def test_approx_scalar_array():                                                                                    
>       assert 1.0 == approx(np.array([1.0, 1.0]))                                                                     
E       assert 1.0 == approx([1.0 ± 1.0e-06, 1.0 ± 1.0e-06])                                                           
E        +  where approx([1.0 ± 1.0e-06, 1.0 ± 1.0e-06]) = approx(array([ 1.,  1.]))                                   
E        +    where array([ 1.,  1.]) = <built-in function array>([1.0, 1.0])                                          
E        +      where <built-in function array> = np.array                                                             
                                                                                                                       
test_approx.py:8: AssertionError                                                                                       

This is pip list, including pytest version:

certifi (2016.2.28)
colorama (0.3.9)   
numpy (1.13.1)     
pip (9.0.1)        
py (1.4.34)        
pytest (3.2.1)     
setuptools (36.4.0)
wheel (0.29.0)     
wincertstore (0.2) 

[pytestbot]

GitMate.io thinks possibly related issues are #1994 (Supporting arrays for approx), #1123 (does pytest support to this way to collect test cases?), #2043 (Pytest does not support indirect parameters for overriden fixtures), #2796 (Possible bug in pytest --doctest comparison), and #2196 (Pytest on cygwin doesn't find files).

[nicoddemus]

Thanks @tadeu!

[benjaminp]

closing since the pull request was merged