Abstract Regression test case prioritization (RTCP) aims to improve the rate of fault detection by executing more important test cases as early as possible. Various RTCP techniques have been proposed based on different coverage criteria. Among them, a majority of techniques leverage code coverage information to guide the prioritization process, with code units being considered individually, and in isolation. In this paper, we propose a new coverage criterion, code combinations coverage, that combines the concepts of code coverage and combination coverage. We apply this coverage criterion to RTCP, as a new prioritization technique, code combinations coverage based prioritization (CCCP). We report on empirical studies conducted to compare the testing effectiveness and efficiency of CCCP with four popular RTCP techniques: total, additional, adaptive random, and search-based test prioritization. The experimental results show that even when the lowest combination strength is assigned, overall, the CCCP fault detection rates are greater than those of the other four prioritization techniques. The CCCP prioritization costs are also found to be comparable to the additional test prioritization technique. Moreover, our results also show that when the combination strength is increased, CCCP provides higher fault detection rates than the state-of-the-art, regardless of the levels of code coverage.

中文翻译：

---

代码组合覆盖率的回归测试用例优先级

摘要 回归测试用例优先级（RTCP）旨在通过尽早执行更重要的测试用例来提高故障检测率。已经根据不同的覆盖标准提出了各种 RTCP 技术。其中，大多数技术利用代码覆盖率信息来指导优先级排序过程，代码单元被单独和孤立地考虑。在本文中，我们提出了一种新的覆盖标准，代码组合覆盖，它结合了代码覆盖和组合覆盖的概念。我们将此覆盖标准应用于 RTCP，作为一种新的优先化技术，基于代码组合覆盖的优先化（CCCP）。我们报告了为比较 CCCP 与四种流行的 RTCP 技术的测试有效性和效率而进行的实证研究：总计、附加、自适应随机和基于搜索的测试优先级。实验结果表明，即使分配了最低组合强度，总体而言，CCCP 故障检测率也高于其他四种优先级技术。还发现 CCCP 优先排序成本与额外的测试优先排序技术相当。此外，我们的结果还表明，当组合强度增加时，CCCP 提供比现有技术更高的故障检测率，无论代码覆盖水平如何。还发现 CCCP 优先排序成本与额外的测试优先排序技术相当。此外，我们的结果还表明，当组合强度增加时，CCCP 提供比现有技术更高的故障检测率，无论代码覆盖水平如何。还发现 CCCP 优先排序成本与额外的测试优先排序技术相当。此外，我们的结果还表明，当组合强度增加时，CCCP 提供比现有技术更高的故障检测率，无论代码覆盖水平如何。