httptest.NewRequest vs http.NewRequest: which one to use in tests and why?

Question

Golang has these two similar libs http and httptest and they both have the NewRequest func.

Why do we even need the httptest.NewRequest if http.NewRequest does it all?

If I need to create a multipart/multiform request for my tests, which one do I need to use?

Answer 1

As indicated in the documentation, httptest.NewRequest "returns a new incoming server Request, suitable for passing to an http.Handler for testing", while http.NewRequest "returns a Request suitable for use with Client.Do or Transport.RoundTrip." So, if you're passing the request directly to the handler in a unit test, use httptest.NewRequest, and if you're executing a full round-trip using http.Client, use http.NewRequest.