Add alias `--config-file` to `-c` (#11036)

Fixes #11031

Signed-off-by: Chris Mahoney <chrismahoey@hotmail.com>
Co-authored-by: Chris Mahoney <chrismahoey@hotmail.com>

AUTHORS

@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ Charles Cloud
 Charles Machalow
 Charnjit SiNGH (CCSJ)
 Cheuk Ting Ho
+Chris Mahoney
 Chris Lamb
 Chris NeJame
 Chris Rose

changelog/11031.trivial.rst

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Enhanced the CLI flag for ``-c`` to now include ``--config-file`` to make it clear that this flag applies to the usage of a custom config file.

doc/en/reference/reference.rst

@@ -1918,7 +1918,8 @@ All the command-line flags can be obtained by running ``pytest --help``::
       --strict-markers      Markers not registered in the `markers` section of
                             the configuration file raise errors
       --strict              (Deprecated) alias to --strict-markers
-      -c file               Load configuration from `file` instead of trying to
+      -c, --config-file FILE
+                            Load configuration from `FILE` instead of trying to
                             locate one of the implicit configuration files
       --continue-on-collection-errors
                             Force test execution even if collection errors occur

src/_pytest/main.py

@@ -122,11 +122,12 @@ def pytest_addoption(parser: Parser) -> None:
     )
     group._addoption(
         "-c",
-        metavar="file",
+        "--config-file",
+        metavar="FILE",
         type=str,
         dest="inifilename",
-        help="Load configuration from `file` instead of trying to locate one of the "
+        help="Load configuration from `FILE` instead of trying to locate one of the "
-        "implicit configuration files",
+        "implicit configuration files.",
     )
     group._addoption(
         "--continue-on-collection-errors",

testing/test_config.py

@@ -514,6 +514,8 @@ class TestConfigCmdlineParsing:
         )
         config = pytester.parseconfig("-c", "custom.ini")
         assert config.getini("custom") == "1"
+        config = pytester.parseconfig("--config-file", "custom.ini")
+        assert config.getini("custom") == "1"
 
         pytester.makefile(
             ".cfg",
@@ -524,6 +526,8 @@ class TestConfigCmdlineParsing:
         )
         config = pytester.parseconfig("-c", "custom_tool_pytest_section.cfg")
         assert config.getini("custom") == "1"
+        config = pytester.parseconfig("--config-file", "custom_tool_pytest_section.cfg")
+        assert config.getini("custom") == "1"
 
         pytester.makefile(
             ".toml",
@@ -536,6 +540,8 @@ class TestConfigCmdlineParsing:
         )
         config = pytester.parseconfig("-c", "custom.toml")
         assert config.getini("custom") == "1"
+        config = pytester.parseconfig("--config-file", "custom.toml")
+        assert config.getini("custom") == "1"
 
     def test_absolute_win32_path(self, pytester: Pytester) -> None:
         temp_ini_file = pytester.makefile(
@@ -550,6 +556,8 @@ class TestConfigCmdlineParsing:
         temp_ini_file_norm = normpath(str(temp_ini_file))
         ret = pytest.main(["-c", temp_ini_file_norm])
         assert ret == ExitCode.OK
+        ret = pytest.main(["--config-file", temp_ini_file_norm])
+        assert ret == ExitCode.OK
 
 
 class TestConfigAPI:
@@ -1907,6 +1915,9 @@ class TestSetupCfg:
         with pytest.raises(pytest.fail.Exception):
             pytester.runpytest("-c", "custom.cfg")
 
+        with pytest.raises(pytest.fail.Exception):
+            pytester.runpytest("--config-file", "custom.cfg")
+
 
 class TestPytestPluginsVariable:
     def test_pytest_plugins_in_non_top_level_conftest_unsupported(