dbt - Documentation

Custom Schema Tests

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dbt ships with Not Null, Unique, Relationships, and Accepted Values schema tests. Under the hood, these schema tests are defined as macros in a globally accessible dbt project. You can find the source code for these tests here.

Schema Tests with One Argument

To define your own schema tests, simply create a macro called test_{test_name}. Here's an example of an is_even schema test:

{% macro test_is_even(model, column_name) %}

with validation as (

    select
        {{ column_name }} as even_field

    from {{ model }}

),

validation_errors as (

    select
        even_field

    from validation
    -- if this is true, then even_field is actually odd!
    where (even_field % 2) = 1

)

select count(*)
from validation_errors

{% endmacro %}

If this select statement returns a count of 0 records, then every record in the supplied model argument is even! If the returned count is greater than zero, then at least one record in model is odd, and the test has failed.

To use this test, add a test for the name of your macro, minus the test_ prefix:

version: 2

models:
  - name: users
    columns:
      - name: favorite_number
        tests:
      	- is_even

In the above example, ref('users') will be passed to the is_even test as the model argument, and favorite_number will be passed in as the column_name argument.

ProTip

Run dbt test --model users to run only the tests defined for the users model.

Schema Tests with More Than One Argument

The above test, is_even works if only one argument needs to be specified. Other tests, like relationships, require more than one argument. If your custom tests requires more than one argument (besides model), define them like this:

{% macro test_relationships(model, field, to, column_name) %}

with parent as (

    select
        {{ field }} as id

    from {{ to }}

),

child as (

    select
        {{ column_name }} as id

    from {{ model }}

)

select count(*)
from child
where id is not null
  and id not in (select id from parent)

{% endmacro %}

When calling this test from a schema.yml file, supply the arguments to the test in a dictionary. Note that the model and column_name arguments will be provided for you:

version: 2

models:
  - name: people
    columns:
      - name: account_id
        tests:
          - to: ref('accounts')
            field: id

Custom Schema Tests

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