What causes "Failed asserting that exception with code "%s" is thrown" in sebastianbergmann/phpunit?

Ensure the test input/arrangement actually causes the exception

sebastianbergmann/phpunit · error · AssertionFailedError

Failed asserting that exception with code "%s" is thrown

Error message

Failed asserting that exception with code "%s" is thrown

What it means

Thrown by ExceptionExpectation::assertWasRaised() when expectExceptionCode() was configured but no exception was raised during the test. With nothing thrown there is no code to compare, so PHPUnit fails the test with the expected code in the message.

Source

Thrown at src/Framework/TestCase/ExceptionExpectation.php:172

                sprintf(
                    'Failed asserting that exception with message %s "%s" is thrown',
                    $this->expectedMessageConstraint instanceof ExceptionMessageIs ? 'is' : 'containing',
                    $this->expectedMessage,
                ),
            );
        } elseif ($this->expectedMessageRegularExpression !== null) {
            $test->addToAssertionCount(1);

            throw new AssertionFailedError(
                sprintf(
                    'Failed asserting that exception with message matching "%s" is thrown',
                    $this->expectedMessageRegularExpression,
                ),
            );
        } elseif ($this->expectedCode !== null) {
            $test->addToAssertionCount(1);

            throw new AssertionFailedError(
                sprintf(
                    'Failed asserting that exception with code "%s" is thrown',
                    $this->expectedCode,
                ),
            );
        }
    }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to f123cdb2a2)

Solutions

Ensure the test input/arrangement actually causes the exception
Remove expectExceptionCode() (and related expectations) if the non-throwing behavior is now correct, and assert the return value instead

Example fix

// before
$this->expectExceptionCode(404);
$repo->find($knownGoodId); // found, no exception

// after
$this->expectExceptionCode(404);
$repo->find($missingId);

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Prevention

Arrange inputs that actually produce the exception whose code you expect
Delete stale expectExceptionCode() calls when the corresponding error path is removed

When it happens

Trigger: Calling $this->expectExceptionCode(123) while the code under test runs to completion without throwing.

Common situations: Guards added to production code so the error no longer happens; tests for error codes where the error-triggering input was corrected; exception thrown in a dependent service that is now mocked to succeed.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of sebastianbergmann/phpunit@f123cdb2a2 (2026-08-23). Data as JSON: /api/errors/09dc85a8ce313dd2. Report an issue: GitHub.