# A command that broke off is not a result

> Silence from a tool is not a yes.

A timeout, truncated output, a process killed halfway: none of these tell you whether the thing you tested works. They tell you the test did not finish.

Do not record it as success, and do not record it as failure of the thing itself. Run it again, run less of it, or write down honestly: not completed.

## Practice

- Check the exit code, not just the text.
- If output was cut, rerun with less.
- Write "not run" rather than guessing the outcome.