Keyword sections are used to create new higher-level keywords by combining existing keywords together. These keywords are called user keywords to differentiate them from lowest level library keywords that are implemented in test libraries. The syntax for creating user keywords is very close to the syntax for creating test cases, which makes it easy to learn.
In many ways, the overall user keyword syntax is identical to the test case syntax. User keywords are created in Keyword sections which differ from Test Case sections only by the name that is used to identify them. User keyword names are in the first column similarly as test cases names. Also user keywords are created from keywords, either from keywords in test libraries or other user keywords. Keyword names are normally in the second column, but when setting variables from keyword return values, they are in the subsequent columns.
robotframework
* Keywords* Open Login Page Open Browser http://host/login.html Title Should Be Login Page
- Title Should Start With
[Arguments] ${expected} ${title} = Get Title Should Start With ${title} ${expected}
Most user keywords take some arguments. This important feature is used already in the second example above, and it is explained in detail later in this section, similarly as user keyword return values.
User keywords can be created in test case files, resource files, and suite initialization files. Keywords created in resource files are available for files using them, whereas other keywords are only available in the files where they are created.
User keywords can have similar settings as test cases, and they have the same square bracket syntax separating them from keyword names. All available settings are listed below and explained later in this section.
[Documentation]Used for setting a user keyword documentation.
[Tags]Sets tags for the keyword.
[Arguments]Specifies user keyword arguments.
[Return]Specifies user keyword return values. RETURN statement (new in RF 5.0) should be used instead.
[Teardown]Specify user keyword teardown.
[Timeout]Sets the possible user keyword timeout. Timeouts are discussed in a section of their own.
Note
The format used above is recommended, but setting names are case-insensitive and spaces are allowed between brackets and the name. For example, `[ TAGS ]`:setting is valid.
The user keyword name is defined in the first column of the Keyword section. Of course, the name should be descriptive, and it is acceptable to have quite long keyword names. Actually, when creating use-case-like test cases, the highest-level keywords are often formulated as sentences or even paragraphs.
User keywords can have a documentation that is set with the [Documentation] setting. It supports same formatting, splitting to multiple lines, and other features as test case documentation. This setting documents the user keyword in the test data. It is also shown in a more formal keyword documentation, which the Libdoc tool can create from resource files. Finally, the first logical row of the documentation, until the first empty row, is shown as a keyword documentation in test logs.
robotframework
* Keywords* One line documentation [Documentation] One line documentation. No Operation
- Multiline documentation
[Documentation] The first line creates the short doc. ... ... This is the body of the documentation. ... It is not shown in Libdoc outputs but only ... the short doc is shown in logs. No Operation
- Short documentation in multiple lines
[Documentation] If the short doc gets longer, it can span ... multiple physical lines. ... ... The body is separated from the short doc with ... an empty line. No Operation
Sometimes keywords need to be removed, replaced with new ones, or deprecated for other reasons. User keywords can be marked deprecated by starting the documentation with *DEPRECATED*, which will cause a warning when the keyword is used. For more information, see the Deprecating keywords section.
Note
Prior to Robot Framework 3.1, the short documentation contained only the first physical line of the keyword documentation.
Both user keywords and library keywords can have tags. Similarly as when tagging test cases, there are two settings affecting user keyword tags:
Keyword Tagsin the Setting sectionAll keywords in a file with this setting always get specified tags.
[Tags]with each keywordKeywords get these tags in addition to possible tags specified using the
Keyword Tagssetting.
robotframework
* Settings* Keyword Tags gui
* Keywords* No own tags [Documentation] This test has tag 'gui'. No Operation
- Own tags
[Documentation] This test has tags 'gui', 'own' and 'tags'. [Tags] own tags No Operation
Additionally, keyword tags can be specified on the last line of the documentation with Tags: prefix so that tags are separated with a comma. For example, following two keywords get same three tags:
robotframework
* Keywords* Settings tags using separate setting [Tags] my fine tags No Operation
- Settings tags using documentation
[Documentation] I have documentation. And my documentation has tags. ... Tags: my, fine, tags No Operation
Keyword tags are shown in logs and in documentation generated by Libdoc, where the keywords can also be searched based on tags. The --removekeywords and --flattenkeywords commandline options also support selecting keywords by tag, and new usages for keywords tags are possibly added in later releases.
Similarly as with test case tags, user keyword tags with the robot: prefix are reserved for special features by Robot Framework itself. Users should thus not use any tag with these prefixes unless actually activating the special functionality.
Note
Keyword Tags is new in Robot Framework 6.0. With earlier versions all keyword tags need to be specified using the [Tags] setting.
Note
Robot Framework 6.1 will support removing globally set tags using the -tag syntax with the [Tags] setting. Creating tags with literal value like -tag is deprecated in Robot Framework 6.0 and escaped syntax -tag must be used if such tags are actually needed.
Most user keywords need to take some arguments. The syntax for specifying them is probably the most complicated feature normally needed with Robot Framework, but even that is relatively easy, particularly in most common cases. Arguments are normally specified with the [Arguments] setting, and argument names use the same syntax as variables, for example ${arg}.
The simplest way to specify arguments (apart from not having them at all) is using only positional arguments. In most cases, this is all that is needed.
The syntax is such that first the [Arguments] setting is given and then argument names are defined in the subsequent cells. Each argument is in its own cell, using the same syntax as with variables. The keyword must be used with as many arguments as there are argument names in its signature. The actual argument names do not matter to the framework, but from users' perspective they should be as descriptive as possible. It is recommended to use lower-case letters in variable names, either as ${my_arg}, ${my arg} or ${myArg}.
robotframework
* Keywords* One Argument [Arguments] ${arg_name} Log Got argument ${arg_name}
- Three Arguments
[Arguments] ${arg1} ${arg2} ${arg3} Log 1st argument: ${arg1} Log 2nd argument: ${arg2} Log 3rd argument: ${arg3}
When creating user keywords, positional arguments are sufficient in most situations. It is, however, sometimes useful that keywords have default values for some or all of their arguments. Also user keywords support default values, and the needed new syntax does not add very much to the already discussed basic syntax.
In short, default values are added to arguments, so that first there is the equals sign (=) and then the value, for example ${arg}=default. There can be many arguments with defaults, but they all must be given after the normal positional arguments. The default value can contain a variable created on test, suite or global scope, but local variables of the keyword executor cannot be used. Default value can also be defined based on earlier arguments accepted by the keyword.
Note
The syntax for default values is space sensitive. Spaces before the = sign are not allowed, and possible spaces after it are considered part of the default value itself.
robotframework
* Keywords* One Argument With Default Value [Arguments] ${arg}=default value [Documentation] This keyword takes 0-1 arguments Log Got argument ${arg}
- Two Arguments With Defaults
[Arguments] ${arg1}=default 1 ${arg2}=${VARIABLE} [Documentation] This keyword takes 0-2 arguments Log 1st argument ${arg1} Log 2nd argument ${arg2}
- One Required And One With Default
[Arguments] ${required} ${optional}=default [Documentation] This keyword takes 1-2 arguments Log Required: ${required} Log Optional: ${optional}
- Default Based On Earlier Argument
[Arguments] ${a} ${b}=${a} ${c}=${a} and ${b} Should Be Equal ${a} ${b} Should Be Equal ${c} ${a} and ${b}
When a keyword accepts several arguments with default values and only some of them needs to be overridden, it is often handy to use the named arguments syntax. When this syntax is used with user keywords, the arguments are specified without the ${} decoration. For example, the second keyword above could be used like below and ${arg1} would still get its default value.
robotframework
* Test Cases* Example Two Arguments With Defaults arg2=new value
As all Pythonistas must have already noticed, the syntax for specifying default arguments is heavily inspired by Python syntax for function default values.
Sometimes even default values are not enough and there is a need for a keyword accepting variable number of arguments. User keywords support also this feature. All that is needed is having list variable such as @{varargs} after possible positional arguments in the keyword signature. This syntax can be combined with the previously described default values, and at the end the list variable gets all the leftover arguments that do not match other arguments. The list variable can thus have any number of items, even zero.
robotframework
* Keywords* Any Number Of Arguments [Arguments] @{varargs} Log Many @{varargs}
- One Or More Arguments
[Arguments] ${required} @{rest} Log Many ${required} @{rest}
- Required, Default, Varargs
[Arguments] ${req} ${opt}=42 @{others} Log Required: ${req} Log Optional: ${opt} Log Others: FOR ${item} IN @{others} Log ${item} END
Notice that if the last keyword above is used with more than one argument, the second argument ${opt} always gets the given value instead of the default value. This happens even if the given value is empty. The last example also illustrates how a variable number of arguments accepted by a user keyword can be used in a for loop. This combination of two rather advanced functions can sometimes be very useful.
The keywords in the examples above could be used, for example, like this:
robotframework
* Test Cases* Varargs with user keywords Any Number Of Arguments Any Number Of Arguments arg Any Number Of Arguments arg1 arg2 arg3 arg4 One Or More Arguments required One Or More Arguments arg1 arg2 arg3 arg4 Required, Default, Varargs required Required, Default, Varargs required optional Required, Default, Varargs arg1 arg2 arg3 arg4 arg5
Again, Pythonistas probably notice that the variable number of arguments syntax is very close to the one in Python.
User keywords can also accept free named arguments by having a dictionary variable like &{named} as the absolutely last argument. When the keyword is called, this variable will get all named arguments that do not match any positional argument or named-only argument in the keyword signature.
robotframework
* Keywords* Free Named Only [Arguments] &{named} Log Many &{named}
- Positional And Free Named
[Arguments] ${required} &{extra} Log Many ${required} &{extra}
- Run Program
[Arguments] @{args} &{config} Run Process program.py @{args} &{config}
The last example above shows how to create a wrapper keyword that accepts any positional or named argument and passes them forward. See free named argument examples for a full example with same keyword.
Free named arguments support with user keywords works similarly as kwargs work in Python. In the signature and also when passing arguments forward, &{kwargs} is pretty much the same as Python's **kwargs.
Starting from Robot Framework 3.1, user keywords support named-only arguments that are inspired by Python 3 keyword-only arguments. This syntax is typically used by having normal arguments after variable number of arguments (@{varargs}). If the keywords does not use varargs, it is possible to use just @{} to denote that the subsequent arguments are named-only:
robotframework
* Keywords* With Varargs [Arguments] @{varargs} ${named} Log Many @{varargs} ${named}
- Without Varargs
[Arguments] @{} ${first} ${second} Log Many ${first} ${second}
Named-only arguments can be used together with positional arguments as well as with free named arguments. When using free named arguments, they must be last:
robotframework
* Keywords* With Positional [Arguments] ${positional} @{} ${named} Log Many ${positional} ${named}
- With Free Named
[Arguments] @{varargs} ${named only} &{free named} Log Many @{varargs} ${named only} &{free named}
When passing named-only arguments to keywords, their order does not matter other than they must follow possible positional arguments. The keywords above could be used, for example, like this:
robotframework
* Test Cases* Example With Varargs named=value With Varargs positional second positional named=foobar Without Varargs first=1 second=2 Without Varargs second=toka first=eka With Positional foo named=bar With Positional named=2 positional=1 With Free Named positional named only=value x=1 y=2 With Free Named foo=a bar=b named only=c quux=d
Named-only arguments can have default values similarly as normal user keyword arguments. A minor difference is that the order of arguments with and without default values is not important.
robotframework
* Keywords* With Default [Arguments] @{} ${named}=default Log Many ${named}
- With And Without Defaults
[Arguments] @{} ${optional}=default ${mandatory} ${mandatory 2} ${optional 2}=default 2 ${mandatory 3} Log Many ${optional} ${mandatory} ${mandatory 2} ${optional 2} ${mandatory 3}
The previous section explained how to pass arguments to keywords so that they are listed separately after the keyword name. Robot Framework has also another approach to pass arguments, embedding them directly to the keyword name, used by the second test below:
robotframework
* Test Cases* Normal arguments Select from list cat
- Embedded arguments
Select cat from list
As the example illustrates, embedding arguments to keyword names can make the data easier to read and understand even for people without any Robot Framework experience.
The previous example showed how using a keyword Select cat from list is more fluent than using Select from list so that cat is passed to it as an argument. We obviously could implement Select cat from list as a normal keyword accepting no arguments, but then we needed to implement various other keywords like Select dog from list for other animals. Embedded arguments simplify this and we can instead implement just one keyword with name Select ${animal} from list and use it with any animal:
robotframework
* Test Cases* Embedded arguments Select cat from list Select dog from list
* Keywords* Select ${animal} from list Open Page Pet Selection Select Item From List animal_list ${animal}
As the above example shows, embedded arguments are specified simply by using variables in keyword names. The arguments used in the name are naturally available inside the keyword and they have different values depending on how the keyword is called. In the above example, ${animal} has value cat when the keyword is used for the first time and dog when it is used for the second time.
Keywords using embedded arguments cannot take any "normal" arguments (specified with [Arguments] setting), but otherwise they are created just like other user keywords. They are also used the same way as other keywords except that spaces and underscores are not ignored in their names when keywords are matched. They are, however, case-insensitive like other keywords. For example, the keyword in the example above could be used like select cow from list, but not like Select cow fromlist.
Embedded arguments do not support default values or variable number of arguments like normal arguments do. If such functionality is needed, normal arguments should be used instead. Passing embedded arguments as variables is possible, but that can reduce readability:
robotframework
* Variables* ${SELECT} cat
* Test Cases* Embedded arguments with variable Select ${SELECT} from list
* Keywords* Select ${animal} from list Open Page Pet Selection Select Item From List animal_list ${animal}
One tricky part in using embedded arguments is making sure that the values used when calling the keyword match the correct arguments. This is a problem especially if there are multiple arguments and characters separating them may also appear in the given values. For example, Select Los Angeles Lakers in the following example matches Select ${city} ${team} so that ${city} contains Los and ${team} contains `Angeles Lakers`:
robotframework
* Test Cases* Example Select Chicago Bulls Select Los Angeles Lakers
* Keywords* Select ${city} ${team} Log Selected ${team} from ${city}.
An easy solution to this problem is surrounding arguments with double quotes or other characters not used in the actual values. This fixed example works so that cities and teams match correctly:
robotframework
* Test Cases* Example Select "Chicago" "Bulls" Select "Los Angeles" "Lakers"
* Keywords* Select "${city}" "${team}" Log Selected ${team} from ${city}.
This approach is not enough to resolve all conflicts, but it helps in common cases and is generally recommended. Another benefit is that it makes arguments stand out from rest of the keyword.
The problem of arguments matching too much occurs often when creating keywords that ignore the given/when/then/and/but prefixes typically used in Behavior Driven Development (BDD). For example, ${name} goes home matches Given Janne goes home so that ${name} gets value Given Janne. Quotes around the argument, like in "${name}" goes home, resolve this problem easily.
An alternative solution for limiting what values arguments match is using custom regular expressions.
When using embedded arguments, it is pretty common that there are multiple keyword implementations that match the keyword that is used. For example, Execute "ls" with "lf" in the example below matches both of the keywords. It matching Execute "${cmd}" with "${opts}" is pretty obvious and what we want, but it also matches Execute "${cmd}" so that ${cmd} matches ls" with "-lh.
robotframework
* Settings* Library Process
* Test Cases* Automatic conflict resolution Execute "ls" Execute "ls" with "-lh"
* Keywords* Execute "${cmd}" Run Process ${cmd} shell=True
- Execute "${cmd}" with "${opts}"
Run Process ${cmd} ${opts} shell=True
When this kind of conflicts occur, Robot Framework tries to automatically select the best match and use that. In the above example, Execute "${cmd}" with "${opts}" is considered a better match than the more generic Execute "${cmd}" and running the example thus succeeds without conflicts.
It is not always possible to find a single match that is better than others. For example, the second test below fails because Robot Framework matches both of the keywords equally well. This kind of conflicts need to be resolved manually either by renaming keywords or by using custom regular expressions.
robotframework
* Test Cases* No conflict Automation framework Robot uprising
- Unresolvable conflict
Robot Framework
* Keywords* ${type} Framework Should Be Equal ${type} Automation
- Robot ${action}
Should Be Equal ${action} uprising
Keywords that accept only "normal" arguments or no arguments at all are considered to match better than keywords accepting embedded arguments. For example, if the following keyword is added to the above example, Robot Framework used by the latter test matches it and the test succeeds:
robotframework
* Keywords* Robot Framework No Operation
Before looking which match is best, Robot Framework checks are some of the matching keywords implemented in the same file as the caller keyword. If there are such keywords, they are given precedence over other keywords. If there are still conflicts after looking for best matches, Robot Framework checks can they be resolved based on the library search order.
Note
Automatically resolving conflicts if multiple keywords with embedded arguments match is a new feature in Robot Framework 6.0. With older versions custom regular expressions explained below can be used instead.
When keywords with embedded arguments are called, the values are matched internally using regular expressions (regexps for short). The default logic goes so that every argument in the name is replaced with a pattern .*? that matches any string and tries to match as little as possible. This logic works fairly well normally, but as discussed above, sometimes keywords match wrong values and sometimes there are conflicts that cannot be resolved . A solution in these cases is specifying a custom regular expression that makes sure that the keyword matches only what it should in that particular context. To be able to use this feature, and to fully understand the examples in this section, you need to understand at least the basics of the regular expression syntax.
A custom embedded argument regular expression is defined after the base name of the argument so that the argument and the regexp are separated with a colon. For example, an argument that should match only numbers can be defined like ${arg:d+}.
Using custom regular expressions is illustrated by the following examples. Notice that the first one shows how the earlier problem with Select ${city} ${team} not matching Select Los Angeles Lakers properly can be resolved without quoting. That is achieved by implementing the keyword so that ${team} can only contain non-whitespace characters.
robotframework
* Settings* Library DateTime
* Test Cases* Do not match whitespace characters Select Chicago Bulls Select Los Angeles Lakers
- Match numbers and characters from set
1 + 2 = 3 53 - 11 = 42
- Match either date or literal 'today'
Deadline is 2022-09-21 Deadline is today
* Keywords* Select ${city} ${team:S+} Log Selected ${team} from ${city}.
- ${number1:d+} ${operator:[+-]} ${number2:d+} = ${expected:d+}
${result} = Evaluate ${number1} ${operator} ${number2} Should Be Equal As Integers ${result} ${expected}
- Deadline is ${date:(d{4}-d{2}-d{2}|today)}
- IF '${date}' == 'today'
${date} = Get Current Date
- ELSE
${date} = Convert Date ${date}
END Log Deadline is on ${date}.
Being implemented with Python, Robot Framework naturally uses Python's re module that has pretty standard regular expressions syntax. This syntax is otherwise fully supported with embedded arguments, but regexp extensions in format (?...) cannot be used. If the regular expression syntax is invalid, creating the keyword fails with an error visible in test execution errors.
Regular expressions use the backslash character (\\) heavily both to form special sequences (e.g. d) and to escape characters that have a special meaning in regexps (e.g. $). Typically in Robot Framework data backslash characters need to be escaped with another backslash, but that is not required in this context. If there is a need to have a literal backslash in the pattern, then the backslash must be escaped like ${path:c:\temp\.*}.
Possible lone opening and closing curly braces in the pattern must be escaped like ${open:{} and ${close:}} or otherwise Robot Framework is not able to parse the variable syntax correctly. If there are matching braces like in ${digits:d{2}}, escaping is not needed.
Note
Prior to Robot Framework 3.2, it was mandatory to escape all closing curly braces in the pattern like ${digits:d{2}}. This syntax is unfortunately not supported by Robot Framework 3.2 or newer and keywords using it must be updated when upgrading.
Note
Prior to Robot Framework 6.0, using literal backslashes in the pattern required double escaping them like ${path:c:\\temp\\.*}. Patterns using literal backslashes need to be updated when upgrading.
When embedded arguments are used with custom regular expressions, Robot Framework automatically enhances the specified regexps so that they match variables in addition to the text matching the pattern. For example, the following test case would pass using the keywords from the earlier example.
robotframework
* Variables* ${DATE} 2011-06-27
* Test Cases* Example Deadline is ${DATE} ${1} + ${2} = ${3}
A limitation of using variables is that their actual values are not matched against custom regular expressions. As the result keywords may be called with values that their custom regexps would not allow. This behavior is deprecated starting from Robot Framework 6.0 and values will be validated in the future. For more information see issue #4462.
A big benefit of having arguments as part of the keyword name is that it makes it easier to use higher-level sentence-like keywords when using the behavior-driven style to write tests. As the example below shows, this support is typically used in combination with the possibility to omit Given, When and Then prefixes in keyword definitions:
robotframework
* Test Cases* Add two numbers Given I have Calculator open When I add 2 and 40 Then result should be 42
- Add negative numbers
Given I have Calculator open When I add 1 and -2 Then result should be -1
* Keywords* I have ${program} open Start Program ${program}
- I add ${number 1} and ${number 2}
Input Number ${number 1} Push Button + Input Number ${number 2} Push Button =
- Result should be ${expected}
${result} = Get Result Should Be Equal ${result} ${expected}
Note
Embedded arguments feature in Robot Framework is inspired by how step definitions are created in the popular BDD tool Cucumber.
Similarly as library keywords, also user keywords can return values. When using Robot Framework 5.0 or newer, the recommended approach is using the native RETURN statement. Old [Return] setting and BuiltIn keywords Return From Keyword and Return From Keyword If still work but they will be deprecated and removed in the future.
Regardless how values are returned, they can be assigned to variables in test cases and in other user keywords.
The recommended approach to return values is using the RETURN statement. It accepts optional return values and can be used with IF and inline IF structures. Its usage is easiest explained with examples:
robotframework
* Keywords* Return One Value [Arguments] ${arg} [Documentation] Return a value unconditionally. ... Notice that keywords after RETURN are not executed. ${value} = Convert To Upper Case ${arg} RETURN ${value} Fail Not executed
- Return Three Values
[Documentation] Return multiple values. RETURN a b c
- Conditional Return
[Arguments] ${arg} [Documentation] Return conditionally. Log Before IF ${arg} == 1 Log Returning! RETURN END Log After
- Find Index
[Arguments] ${test} ${items} [Documentation] Advanced example involving FOR loop, inline IF and @{list} variable syntax. FOR ${index} ${item} IN ENUMERATE @{items} IF $item ==
$test RETURN $ {index} END RETURN ${-1}
If you want to test the above examples yourself, you can use them with these test cases:
robotframework
* Settings* Library String
* Test Cases* One return value ${ret} = Return One Value argument Should Be Equal ${ret} ARGUMENT
- Multiple return values
${a} ${b} ${c} = Return Three Values Should Be Equal ${a}, ${b}, ${c} a, b, c
- Conditional return
Conditional Return 1 Conditional Return 2
- Advanced
@{list} = Create List foo bar baz ${index} = Find Index bar ${list} Should Be Equal ${index} ${1} ${index} = Find Index non existing ${list} Should Be Equal ${index} ${-1}
Note
RETURN is new in Robot Framework 5.0. Use approaches explained below if you need to support older versions.
The [Return] setting defines what the keyword should return after it has been executed. Although it is recommended to have it at the end of keyword where it logically belongs, its position does not affect how it is used.
An inherent limitation of the [Return] setting is that cannot be used conditionally. Thus only the first two earlier RETURN statement examples can be created using it.
robotframework
* Keywords* Return One Value [Arguments] ${arg} ${value} = Convert To Upper Case ${arg} [Return] ${value}
- Return Three Values
[Return] a b c
Note
The [Return] setting is effectively deprecated and the RETURN statement should be used unless there is a need to support also older versions than Robot Framework 5.0. There is no visible deprecation warning when using the setting yet, but it will be loudly deprecated and eventually removed in the future.
BuiltIn keywords Return From Keyword and Return From Keyword If allow returning from a user keyword conditionally in the middle of the keyword. Both of them also accept optional return values that are handled exactly like with the RETURN statement and the [Return] setting discussed above.
The introduction of the RETURN statement makes these keywords redundant. Examples below contain same keywords as earlier RETURN examples but these ones are more verbose:
robotframework
* Keywords* Return One Value [Arguments] ${arg} ${value} = Convert To Upper Case ${arg} Return From Keyword ${value} Fail Not executed
- Return Three Values
Return From Keyword a b c
- Conditional Return
[Arguments] ${arg} Log Before IF ${arg} == 1 Log Returning! Return From Keyword END Log After
- Find Index
[Arguments] ${test} ${items} FOR ${index} ${item} IN ENUMERATE @{items} Return From Keyword If $item ==
$test $ {index} END Return From Keyword ${-1}
Note
These keywords are effectively deprecated and the RETURN statement should be used unless there is a need to support also older versions than Robot Framework 5.0. There is no visible deprecation warning when using these keywords yet, but they will be loudly deprecated and eventually removed in the future.
User keywords may have a teardown defined using [Teardown] setting.
Keyword teardown works much in the same way as a test case teardown. Most importantly, the teardown is always a single keyword, although it can be another user keyword, and it gets executed also when the user keyword fails. In addition, all steps of the teardown are executed even if one of them fails. However, a failure in keyword teardown will fail the test case and subsequent steps in the test are not run. The name of the keyword to be executed as a teardown can also be a variable.
robotframework
* Keywords* With Teardown Do Something [Teardown] Log keyword teardown
- Using variables
[Documentation] Teardown given as variable Do Something [Teardown] ${TEARDOWN}
User keywords can be tagged with a special robot:private tag to indicate that they should only be used in the file where they are created:
robotframework
* Keywords* Public Keyword Private Keyword
- Private Keyword
[Tags] robot:private No Operation
Using the robot:private tag does not outright prevent using the keyword outside the file where it is created, but such usages will cause a warning. If there is both a public and a private keyword with the same name, the public one will be used but also this situation causes a warning.
Private keywords are included in spec files created by Libdoc but not in its HTML output files.
Note
Private user keywords are new in Robot Framework 6.0.