Cucumber Interview Questions and Answers
Freshers / Beginner level questions & answers
Ques 1. What is Cucumber?
Cucumber is a tool that supports behavior-driven development (BDD) by allowing tests to be written in a natural language style.
Example:
Feature: Login
Scenario: Successful login
Given the user is on the login page
When the user enters valid credentials
Then the user should be logged in
Ques 2. What is the purpose of the Background keyword in Cucumber?
Background is used to define a set of steps that are common to all scenarios in a feature, helping to reduce duplication of steps.
Example:
Feature: Shopping Cart
Background:
Given a user is logged in
Scenario: Add item to cart
When the user adds an item to the cart
Then the cart should display the item
Ques 3. What is the purpose of Tags in Cucumber?
Tags are used to categorize and filter scenarios, allowing selective execution of specific groups of scenarios.
Example:
@smoke
Feature: User Authentication
Scenario: Successful login
Given the user is on the login page
When the user enters valid credentials
Then the user should be logged in
Ques 4. How can you skip a scenario in Cucumber?
Scenarios can be skipped by tagging them with the @ignore tag or a tag that is not included in the test execution command.
Example:
@ignore
Scenario: This scenario will be skipped
Given a precondition
When an action is performed
Then the result is validated
Ques 5. What is the purpose of the 'Background' keyword in Cucumber?
Background is used to define a set of steps that are common to all scenarios in a feature, helping to reduce duplication of steps.
Example:
Feature: Product Management
Background:
Given a user is logged in
Scenario: Add a new product
When the user adds a new product
Then the product should be added successfully
Ques 6. How can you run specific scenarios in Cucumber?
Specific scenarios can be run by using the tag associated with those scenarios in the Cucumber test execution command.
Example:
cucumber --tags @smoke
Ques 7. What is the purpose of the 'But' keyword in Cucumber?
The 'But' keyword is used to provide an alternative step with additional clarification, often used after 'Given', 'When', or 'Then' for better readability.
Example:
Scenario: Login with valid credentials
Given the user is on the login page
When the user enters valid credentials
Then the user should be logged in
But the user dashboard should be displayed
Ques 8. How do you organize feature files in a Cucumber project?
Feature files are typically organized based on the functionality they represent or by feature. A common approach is to create directories for each feature and place related feature files within those directories.
Example:
project
|-- src
| |-- test
| |-- java
| |-- features
| |-- login
| |-- login.feature
| |-- search
| |-- search.feature
Ques 9. What is the purpose of the 'Dry Run' option in Cucumber?
The 'Dry Run' option is used to check if all the steps in the feature file have matching step definitions. It helps identify undefined or pending steps without executing the actual test.
Example:
cucumber --dry-run
Intermediate / 1 to 5 years experienced level questions & answers
Ques 10. Explain the difference between Cucumber Scenario Outline and Examples keywords.
Scenario Outline is used to run the same scenario with different sets of data, and Examples provide the actual values for the placeholders in Scenario Outline.
Example:
Ques 11. How do you parameterize steps in Cucumber?
Steps can be parameterized using angle brackets in the step definition, and values are passed through Examples in the Scenario Outline.
Example:
Scenario Outline: Search with different keywords
Given the user is on the search page
When the user searches for
Then results should include
Examples:
| keyword | result |
| cucumber | relevant results |
| testing | accurate results |
Ques 12. Explain the concept of Step Definition in Cucumber.
Step Definitions are the actual code that maps the Gherkin language statements to executable code, providing the automation logic for each step.
Example:
Given(/^the user is on the login page$/, () => {
// code to navigate to the login page
});
Ques 13. How do you handle dynamic data in Cucumber?
Dynamic data can be handled using scenario outline and examples, allowing the same scenario to be executed with different sets of data.
Example:
Scenario Outline: Search with dynamic data
Given the user is on the search page
When the user searches for
Then results should include
Examples:
| dynamic_keyword | result |
| cucumber | relevant results |
| testing | accurate results |
Ques 14. Explain the role of Hooks in Cucumber.
Hooks are blocks of code that run before or after specific events in the Cucumber execution cycle, such as before and after scenarios, features, or steps.
Example:
Before(() => {
// code to run before each scenario
});
After(() => {
// code to run after each scenario
});
Ques 15. What is the purpose of the 'Outline' keyword in Cucumber?
The 'Outline' keyword is used to create a template for a scenario with placeholders for input values, and it is often used with the 'Examples' keyword.
Example:
Ques 16. What is the purpose of the 'DataTable' in Cucumber?
DataTable is used to represent tabular data in Gherkin syntax, providing an easy way to pass data to steps in a scenario.
Example:
Scenario: Data-driven login
Given the user is on the login page
When the user enters the following credentials
| Username | Password |
| user1 | pass123 |
Then the user should be logged in
Ques 17. Explain the difference between 'Background' and 'Scenario Outline' in Cucumber.
Background is used to define a set of common steps for all scenarios in a feature, while Scenario Outline is used to run the same scenario with different sets of data.
Example:
Feature: Online Shopping
Background:
Given a user is logged in
Scenario Outline: Add item to cart
When the user adds- to the cart
Then the cart should display the
Examples:
| item |
| Laptop |
| Headphones|
Ques 18. What is the purpose of the 'DocString' in Cucumber?
DocString is used to pass a large string as an argument to a step, providing a way to include multiline data in a step definition.
Example:
Scenario: Add product description
Given the user is on the product page
When the user adds the following description
"""
This is a detailed description of the product.
It includes features and specifications.
"""
Then the description should be saved
Ques 19. How can you parameterize a URL in Cucumber?
You can use scenario outline and examples to parameterize a URL and run the same scenario with different URLs.
Example:
Scenario Outline: Access different URLs
Given the user navigates to
Then the page should load successfully
Examples:
| url |
| https://example.com |
| https://test.com |
Ques 20. Explain the difference between Background and Hooks in Cucumber.
Background is used to define a set of common steps for all scenarios in a feature, while Hooks are blocks of code that run before or after specific events in the Cucumber execution cycle.
Example:
Feature: Online Shopping
Background:
Given a user is logged in
Scenario: Add item to cart
When the user adds an item to the cart
Then the cart should display the item
Ques 21. How can you reuse step definitions in Cucumber?
Step definitions can be reused by creating separate step definition files and then referencing those step definitions in the feature files using the 'glue' option in the test runner configuration.
Example:
glue = {"path.to.step.definitions"}
Ques 22. What is the purpose of the 'Scenario Outline' Examples table header in Cucumber?
The Examples table header in Scenario Outline specifies the names of the variables that will be used in the scenario, and it helps map the values from the Examples table to the corresponding placeholders in the scenario steps.
Example:
Scenario Outline: Search with different keywords
Given the user is on the search page
When the user searches for
Then results should include
Examples:
| keyword | result |
| cucumber | relevant results |
| testing | accurate results |
Ques 23. How can you handle dynamic data in Cucumber?
Dynamic data can be handled using Scenario Outline and Examples, allowing the same scenario to be executed with different sets of data.
Example:
Scenario Outline: Search with dynamic data
Given the user is on the search page
When the user searches for
Then results should include
Examples:
| dynamic_keyword | result |
| cucumber | relevant results |
| testing | accurate results |
Ques 24. Explain the difference between Cucumber and JUnit/TestNG.
Cucumber is a BDD tool that allows tests to be written in a natural language style, whereas JUnit and TestNG are testing frameworks used for unit testing in a more traditional manner.
Example:
Feature: Login
Scenario: Successful login
Given the user is on the login page
When the user enters valid credentials
Then the user should be logged in
Experienced / Expert level questions & answers
Ques 25. What is the purpose of the 'Scenario Context' in Cucumber?
Scenario Context is used to share data between steps within the same scenario, allowing you to pass information between steps.
Example:
Scenario: Sharing data between steps
Given a variable is initialized
When the variable is modified
Then the modified value should be accessible in subsequent steps
Ques 26. How do you handle asynchronous operations in Cucumber?
Asynchronous operations can be handled using explicit waits or tools like 'cucumber-waitfor'.
Example:
Scenario: Asynchronous operation
Given the user initiates an asynchronous operation
When the operation completes
Then the result should be visible
Ques 27. Explain the purpose of the 'Scenario Context' in Cucumber.
Scenario Context is used to share data between steps within the same scenario, allowing you to pass information between steps.
Example:
Scenario: Sharing data between steps
Given a variable is initialized
When the variable is modified
Then the modified value should be accessible in subsequent steps
Ques 28. How can you run Cucumber tests in parallel?
Cucumber tests can be run in parallel by using tools like TestNG or by configuring parallel execution in the test runner configuration.
Example:
mvn test -Dcucumber.options="--threads 2"
Ques 29. How do you handle browser-specific testing in Cucumber?
Browser-specific testing can be handled by using tags and configuring the test runner to run scenarios with specific tags. Different scenarios can be tagged for different browsers, and appropriate configuration can be set for each browser.
Example:
@chrome
Scenario: Test on Chrome browser
Given the user is on the application
When the user performs an action
Then the result should be validated
Ques 30. What is the purpose of the 'Scenario Context' in Cucumber?
Scenario Context is used to share data between steps within the same scenario, allowing you to pass information between steps.
Example:
Scenario: Sharing data between steps
Given a variable is initialized
When the variable is modified
Then the modified value should be accessible in subsequent steps
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