I am going through some examples and some books in relation to Cucumber usage and it looks like @And annotation is never being caught by the regex. I mean it is a valid Gherkin keyword and it is being used in the scenarios but I can see no references to it in the actual code.
Why is that?
From The Cucumber Book:
Cucumber doesn’t actually care which of these keywords you use; the choice is simply there to help you create the most readable scenario.
Some people find Given, When, Then, And, and But a little verbose. There is an additional keyword you can use to start a step: * (an asterisk).
So you could write:
Scenario: Attempt withdrawal using stolen card
Given I have $100 in my account
But my card is invalid
When I request $50
Then my card should not be returned
And I should be told to contact the bank
Or:
Scenario: Attempt withdrawal using stolen card
Given I have $100 in my account
Given my card is invalid
When I request $50
Then my card should not be returned
Then I should be told to contact the bank
Or:
Scenario: Attempt withdrawal using stolen card
* I have $100 in my account
* my card is invalid
* I request $50
* my card should not be returned
* I should be told to contact the bank
To Cucumber, this is exactly the same scenario.
It happens, because @AND keyword is parsed like the keyword prior to it. So, in case your test looks like that
@When user logs in application
@And navigates to landing page
it's similar to the the case below
@When user logs in application
@When navigates to landing page
Actually, I stick to avoid using @AND keywords, because binding mismatch could occur if someone will insert a step which begins from different keyword. E.g.:
@When user logs in application
**@Then check that userpic is displayed**
@And navigates to landing page
In this example @AND keyword will be remapped to keyword @THEN.
And.