How to test private methods?

This is a question that I have encountered with some frequency for a long time. So I thought I would put together my thoughts on the subject here.

Short answer

Never.

Long answer

Never ever.

What if…?

If you really want to test a private method, consider extracting that private method logic into a separate class, and write a unit test for that class’ behavior.

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For this one, I was inspired by Fran Iglesias’ original post.