What is the difference between Scenario and Scenario Outline in Cucumber?

Scenario — a single, specific example with hardcoded values:

Scenario: User cannot log in with wrong password
  Given the login page is open
  When  the user enters "alice@example.com" and "wrongpassword"
  Then  the error "Invalid credentials" is shown

Scenario Outline — runs once per row, substituting <placeholder> with each value:

Scenario Outline: Login fails for invalid credentials
  Given the login page is open
  When  the user enters "<email>" and "<password>"
  Then  the error "<error>" is shown

  Examples:
    | email                | password      | error                    |
    | alice@example.com    | wrongpassword | Invalid credentials      |
    | notanemail           | any           | Invalid email format     |
    | alice@example.com    |               | Password cannot be empty |

This generates 3 separate test cases from one template — equivalent to a parameterised test in JUnit/TestNG.

When to use Scenario Outline:

• Boundary value testing (valid/invalid inputs)
• Same workflow with multiple data sets
• Equivalence classes that share the same steps

When NOT to: If the data sets require meaningfully different Given/Then context, force-fitting them into a single Outline creates a confusing template. Write separate Scenarios instead.

Multiple Examples tables: A Scenario Outline can have multiple Examples tables, each with a different tag, to separate positive and negative cases:

  @positive
  Examples:
    | email             | password  |
    | valid@example.com | correct   |

  @negative
  Examples:
    | email             | password |
    | valid@example.com | wrong    |