diff -r 7f17c67b5bf6 Lib/idlelib/FormatParagraph.py
--- a/Lib/idlelib/FormatParagraph.py	Sun Jul 07 17:35:11 2013 +0200
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/FormatParagraph.py	Mon Jul 08 00:21:39 2013 -0400
@@ -149,3 +149,8 @@
     m = re.match(r"^(\s*#*)", line)
     if m is None: return ""
     return m.group(1)
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    import unittest
+    unittest.main('idlelib.idle_test.test_formatparagraph.py', verbosity=2,
+                  exit=False)
diff -r 7f17c67b5bf6 Lib/idlelib/idle_test/test_formatparagraph.py
--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/idle_test/test_formatparagraph.py	Mon Jul 08 00:21:39 2013 -0400
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+import unittest
+from idlelib import FormatParagraph as format_paragraph
+from idlelib.idle_test.mock_idle import Editor
+
+class FormatParagraphTest(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    def test_reformat_paragrah(self):
+        '''tests the basic reformat_paragraph function without the editor window'''
+        reformat_result = format_paragraph.reformat_paragraph("# hello world"
+                , 8)
+        reformat_expected_result = ("# hello\nworld")
+        self.assertEqual(reformat_result, reformat_expected_result)
+
+    def test_format_paragraph_event(self):
+        self.dummy_editor_window = Editor()
+        self.dummy_editor_window.text.insert('1.0',"     \"\"\"this is a test of a reformat for a triple quoted string will it reformat to less than 80 characters for me?\"\"\"")
+        self.fp = format_paragraph.FormatParagraph(self.dummy_editor_window)
+        self.fp.format_paragraph_event('ParameterDoesNothing')
+        reformat_result = self.dummy_editor_window.text.get('1.0','end')
+        reformat_expected_result = ("     \"\"\"this is a test of a reformat for a triple quoted string will\n     it reformat to less than 80 characters for me?\"\"\"\n")
+        self.assertEqual(reformat_result, reformat_expected_result)
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    unittest.main(verbosity=2, exit=2)