Jest - how to test if a component does not exist?

If you're using react-testing-library (I know the OP wasn't but I found this question via web search) then this will work:

expect(component.queryByText("Text I care about")).not.toBeInTheDocument();

You can query by Text, Role, and several others. See docs for more info.

Note: queryBy* will return null if it is not found. If you use getBy* then it will error out for elements not found.

Providing a slightly updated answer based on the documentation for enzyme-matchers's toExist. This will require you to install the enzyme-matchers package.

function Fixture() {
  return (
    <div>
      <span className="foo" />
      <span className="bar baz" />
    </div>
  );
}

const wrapper = mount(<Fixture />); // mount/render/shallow when applicable

expect(wrapper.find('span')).toExist();
expect(wrapper.find('ul')).not.toExist();

.contains does not expect a selector, unlike find. You can look at the length attribute of the ShallowWrapper

expect(wrapper.find('...')).toHaveLength(0)

I found I needed to use this syntax with Enzyme and Jest to test if a Connected Component existed in the rendered output.

We use Jest and Enzyme, and I've found the only good test is to import the sub-component and test this way:

expect(component.find(SubComponent).length).toEqual(0); // or (1) for exists, obvs

I tried all the other answers and none worked reliably.

If you are using react-testing-library, then this also will work:

expect(component.queryByText("Text I care about").toBeNull());
expect(within(component).queryByText("Text I care about")).toBeNull();

Note: In my case, I needed to use queryBy* because it doesn´t error out when the text element (that contains the text: Text I care about) does not exist. Therefore, I could evaluate whether there is an existence of a text component or not.