objectcontaining

Objectcontaining, commonly seen in testing libraries as objectContaining, refers to a matcher that verifies an actual object includes at least the properties and values specified by an expected object. It enables partial deep matching rather than strict equality, allowing extra properties to exist in the actual object.

In practice, objectContaining is used to assert that a complex object contains a subset of data, without having to spell out every field. It is especially useful when some properties are dynamic or when the full object structure is large. The matcher is often part of a family of asymmetric matchers that enable partial or type-based assertions in tests.

Usage typically involves comparing an actual value against an expected object pattern. For example, you might check that a response object includes a specific subset of fields, or that an item in a list of objects contains certain key-value pairs. Nested objects are matched recursively, so asserting { a: { b: 1 } } will succeed if the actual object has a with a nested b equal to 1, even if other nested keys are present.

Related concepts include other asymmetric matchers such as arrayContaining for arrays, and toMatchObject or similar helpers in various frameworks. While implementation details vary, the core idea remains: verify that the actual object contains the specified subset of data, while allowing additional properties or structure to differ. This approach helps keep tests robust against unrelated changes.