Summary

• around(:suite) does not exist.
• around(:all) runs after before(:all) and before after(:all).
• around(:each) runs before before(:each) and after after(:each).

As this is not 100% obvious (and not yet documented) it is written down in this card. In RSpec 3 :each has the alias :example and :all the alias :context.

Example

Copy
RSpec.configure do |config|
  config.before(:suite) { puts 'BEFORE :suite' }
  config.after(:suite) { puts 'AFTER :suite' }
end

describe 'order of hook execution' do
  around(:all) do |each|
    puts 'AROUND BEFORE :all'
    each.run
    puts 'AROUND AFTER :all'
  end

  around(:each) do |each|
    puts 'AROUND BEFORE :each'
    each.run
    puts 'AROUND AFTER :each'
  end

  before(:all) { puts 'BEFORE :all' }
  before(:each) { puts 'BEFORE :each' }
  after(:each) { puts 'AFTER :each' }
  after(:all) { puts 'AFTER :all' }

  it { expect(true).to be(true) }
end

Copy
BEFORE :suite
 BEFORE :all
  AROUND BEFORE :all
    AROUND BEFORE :each
      BEFORE :each
        . # our each runs here
      AFTER :each
    AROUND AFTER :each
  AROUND AFTER :all
 AFTER :all
AFTER :suite

Further around hook related problems

• Cucumber pitfall: "Around" does not apply to your "Background" steps
• How to set up database_cleaner for Rails with Cucumber and RSpec
• Before all in database transactions will fail