test_runner: todo/skip/expectFailure are truthy per docs, but implementation is otherwise

[vassudanagunta]

Version

v25.6.1

Subsystem

node:test

What steps will reproduce the bug?

Add the todo, skip or testFailure option to a test, setting it to an empty string. The result will be the same as if you set it to true or a non-empty string.

What is the expected behavior? Why is that the expected behavior?

Unsure whether the bug is in the code or in the API docs.

The code clearly does not treat these options as truthy:

node/lib/internal/test_runner/test.js

Lines 639 to 641 in 2de3482

	this.expectFailure = expectFailure !== undefined && expectFailure !== false;
	this.skipped = skip !== undefined && skip !== false;
	this.isTodo = (todo !== undefined && todo !== false) || this.parent?.isTodo;

But the docs specifically state they should be:

node/doc/api/test.md

Lines 1691 to 1696 in 2de3482

	* `skip` {boolean|string} If truthy, the test is skipped. If a string is
	provided, that string is displayed in the test results as the reason for
	skipping the test. **Default:** `false`.
	* `todo` {boolean|string} If truthy, the test marked as `TODO`. If a string
	is provided, that string is displayed in the test results as the reason why
	the test is `TODO`. **Default:** `false`.

Additional information

Previous discussions:

• Three years ago: test_runner: fix spec skip detection #47537 (review) @ljharb
• More recently as part of expectFailure development: doc(proposal): expectFailure label and/or matcher test-runner#10 (comment) @JakobJingleheimer

[ljharb]

Based on my comment on #47537 (review), this seems like a bug - the empty string should be identical to false.

[JakobJingleheimer]

I can't think of a reason for them to not be truthy/falsy, like skip: 'skip' in opts && !!opts.skip

[vassudanagunta]

the effective change will be that '', null, NaN and the various flavors of 0 will no longer result in a todo/skip/expectFailure.

My guess is only the first and maybe the second will likely break any existing clients and even that will be rare.