Groups can be configured under Suite and/or Test element of testng.xml. All groups which are marked as included in tesng.xml will be considered for execution, excluded one will be ignored. If a @Test method has multiple groups and from those groups if any single groups is excluded in testng.xml that @Test method will not run.

Below is the typical testng.xml configuration at Test level for running groups:

<suite name="Suite World">
<test name="Test Name">
  <groups>
    <run>
      <include name="functest" />
      <exclude name="regtest" />
    </run>
  </groups>
  <classes>
    <class name="example.group.GroupTest"/>
  </classes>
</test>
</suite>

And this how it's test class will look like:

package example.group;

import org.testng.annotations.AfterClass;
import org.testng.annotations.BeforeClass;
import org.testng.annotations.Test;

public class GroupTest {
    
    @BeforeClass
    public void deSetup(){
        //do configuration stuff here
    }
    
    @Test(groups = { "functest", "regtest" })
    public void testMethod1() {
    }

    @Test(groups = {"functest", "regtest"} )
    public void testMethod2() {
    }

    @Test(groups = { "functest" })
    public void testMethod3() {
    }
    
    @AfterClass
    public void cleanUp(){
        //do resource release and cleanup stuff here
    }
}

On running this GroupTest TestNG class only testMethod3() will be executed.

Explanation:

• <include name="functest" /> all the test methods of functest group are eligible for run if it not excluded by any other group.
• <exclude name="regtest" /> no test methods of regtest group are eligible for run.
• testMethod1() and testMethod2() are in regtest group, so they will not have run.
• testMethod3() is in regtest group, so it will run.

TestNG allows defining groups which can include other groups. MetaGroups logically combine one or more group(s) and control the execution of the @Testmethods belonging to those groups.

In below example there are various @Test methods belonging to different group(s). Few are specific to particular stack and few are regression and acceptance tests. Here MetaGroups can be created. Let's pick any two simple MetaGroups:

1. allstack - includes both liux.jboss.oracle and aix.was.db2 groups and enables all test methods belonging to any one of those groups to run together.
2. systemtest - includes allstack, regression and acceptance groups and enables all test methods belonging to any one of those groups to run together.

testng.xml configuration

<suite name="Groups of Groups">
    <test name="MetaGroups Test">
        <groups>
            <!-- allstack group includes both liux.jboss.oracle and aix.was.db2 groups -->
            <define name="allstack">
                <include name="liux.jboss.oracle" />
                <include name="aix.was.db2" />
            </define>

            <!-- systemtest group includes all groups allstack, regression and acceptance -->
            <define name="systemtest">
                <include name="allstack" />
                <include name="regression" />
                <include name="acceptance" />
            </define>

            <run>
                <include name="systemtest" />
            </run>
        </groups>

        <classes>
            <class name="example.group.MetaGroupsTest" />
        </classes>
    </test>

</suite>

MetaGroupsTest class

package example.group;

import org.testng.annotations.AfterMethod;
import org.testng.annotations.BeforeMethod;
import org.testng.annotations.Test;

public class MetaGroupsTest {

    @BeforeMethod
    public void beforeMethod(){
        //before method stuffs - setup
    }

    @Test(groups = { "liux.jboss.oracle", "acceptance" })
    public void testOnLinuxJbossOracleStack() {
        //your test logic goes here
    }

    @Test(groups = {"aix.was.db2", "regression"} )
    public void testOnAixWasDb2Stack() {
        //your test logic goes here
    }

    @Test(groups = "acceptance")
    public void testAcceptance() {
        //your test logic goes here
    }

    @Test(groups = "regression")
    public void testRegression(){
        //your test logic goes here
    }

    @AfterMethod
    public void afterMthod(){
        //after method stuffs - cleanup
    }
}