[Bug]: Using test.fail() does not actually fail the test

[adrianmaciuc]

Version

1.40

Steps to reproduce

Set at the beginning of the test test.fail()

1. Navigate to blog.martioli.com
2. Expect that an element is visible

Expected behavior

Test should fail

Actual behavior

Test will pass

Additional context

test("The fail", async ({ page }) => {
  test.fail();
  await page.goto('https://blog.martioli.com');
  await expect(getByRole('link', { name: 'About' })).toBeVisible()
});

If I replace the expect with a click action, then the test will actually fail.

Environment

CPU: (4) x64 Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-7600 CPU @ 3.50GHz
    Memory: 8.81 GB / 15.91 GB
  Binaries:
    Node: 18.19.0 - C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.EXE
    Yarn: 1.22.21 - ~\AppData\Roaming\npm\yarn.CMD
    npm: 10.2.3 - C:\Program Files\nodejs\npm.CMD
  IDEs:
    VSCode: 1.89.1 - C:\Microsoft VS Code\bin\code.CMD
  npmPackages:
    @playwright/test: ^1.40.0 => 1.42.1

[mxschmitt]

test.fail() will look at the test once it is completed. If it failed, then it will be considered passing. If it passes, it will be considered failing, since we expect it to fail.

See here: https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-test#test-fail

So this looks like its working as expected.

[adrianmaciuc]

I guess I misunderstood how this actually works. Thank you