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Introduction
Selenium is a popular testing framework used for automating web applications. It supports various programming languages like Java, Python, C#, etc., to write scripts for test automation. One of the most significant advantages of Selenium is that it allows testers to interact with web elements using various locator strategies.
XPath is one of the powerful locator strategies used in Selenium to locate elements on a web page. For more information on selenium, visit this blog.
Xpath in Selenium
XPath is a query language that traverses an XML or HTML document and selects specific elements based on their attributes, tag names, and positions. XPath has a significant advantage over other locator strategies because it can locate elements that are nested deep within the structure of a web page.
XPath expressions are constructed using a set of rules. The result of the evaluation is a set of nodes that matches the expression. Selenium uses XPath expressions to locate elements on a web page and perform actions on them.
Xpath Syntax
The basic syntax of Xpath in Selenium is as follows:
XPath = //tagname[@Attribute=”Value”]
Let’s break down the syntax and understand it.
// denotes the current node.
Tagname denotes the tag name of the current node.
@ is to select an attribute.
The attribute is the selected attribute.
Value is the value of the selected attribute.
Types of Xpath Locaters
For example, consider the following HTML document:
An absolute XPath expression starts with a single slash (/) and describes the exact location of an element in the document. It can fail if the structure of the document changes.
Let’s discuss the syntax of an absolute path.
Syntax
Xpath: /html/body/div/h1
Output
Explanation
The above command selects the li elements from the first div element inside the body tag in HTML. The single slash signifies that address starts from the root of the document.
Relative XPath
A relative XPath expression starts with a double slash (//) and describes the location of an element relative to its parent element.
Let’s discuss the syntax of a relative path.
Syntax
Xpath: //*[@id=”name”]
Output
Explanation
The above command selects all the tags whose id is name.
How to write Xpath using Functions
Xpath in Selenium provides some Xpath functions to locate Xpaths efficiently. We have discussed some important functions with examples.
For example, Consider the following HTML document:
We can simply use attributes or locators like, class, id, name, CSS path, href, input, etc., to select the specific elements in the document uniquely, using the below Xpath.
Syntax
XPath = //tagname[@Attribute=’Value’]
For example, To select elements whose class name is ‘item’, we can use the below Xpath
XPath = //li[@class=”item”]
Output
Using Contains function
We can use contains() to select the elements of the given attribute having a specific value, using the below Xpath. It is used when some part of the value of attribute changes dynamically, so we can locate the element using the constant value.
Syntax
XPath = //tagname[contains(@Attribute, “Value”)]
For example, To select li elements whose class name is ‘item’, we can use the below Xpath:
//li[contains(@class,”item”)]
Output
Using text function
We can select the tags using a substring which is a part of the selected tag. The substring or text can be the label. The Xpath is given below.
Syntax
XPath = //tag_name[contains(text(), ’Text of the element’)]
For example, To select li elements that contain the text “Item”, we can use the following XPath:
XPath = //li[contains(text(), 'Item')]
Output
Using logical AND and OR operators
We can check more than one condition in a single Xpath using logical operators like AND and OR. The Xpath is given below.
OR
The syntax for using the OR operator is:
Syntax
XPath=//tagname[@attribute1=value1 or @attribute2=value1]
For example, To select li elements whose class name is ‘item’ or the text() of li element contains the substring "Item", we can use the below Xpath:
XPath = //li[contains(text(), 'Item') or contains(@class, 'item')]
Output
AND
The syntax for using the AND operator is:
Syntax
XPath=//tagname[@attribute1=value1 and @attribute2=value1]
For example, To select li elements whose class name is ‘item’ and the text() of each li element contains the substring "Item", we can use the below Xpath:
XPath = //li[contains(text(), 'Item') and contains(@class, 'item')]
Output
Using Starts-with function
We can use starts-with() to select those elements whose attribute’s text starts with the given value. The Xpath is given below.
XPath = //tagname[starts-with(@attribute, value)]
For example, to select elements with tag li and its given attribute starts with “item”, we can use the following XPath:
XPath = //li[starts-with(@class,'item')
Output
Writing Xpaths using Axes
In XPath, the axis refers to the relationship between the current node and other nodes in the HTML/XML document. Several axes are available in XPath, including child, parent, ancestor, following-sibling, and preceding-sibling, among others.
Using the child axis in Xpath
Using the below Xpath, we can select all the children of the ul element.
Syntax
XPath = //ul/*
Output
Using the Ancestor axis in Xpath
Select all the ancestor elements of the first list item having class “list”.
Syntax
XPath = //li[@class='list'][1]/ancestor::*
Output
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the XPath and operator in Selenium?
In Selenium, the "and" operator in XPath is denoted by "and" or "&&," allowing you to combine conditions for more precise element identification.
What is XPath in Selenium IDE?
In Selenium IDE, XPath is used to locate elements in web pages. It helps identify elements for automated testing within the Selenium Integrated Development Environment.
What is an XPath locator?
An XPath locator is a string representation of the path to an HTML element within an XML or HTML document. It's used in Selenium for element identification.
Conclusion
In this article, we discussed Xpath in Selenium and its use cases. We also saw different functions for creating Xpath and their syntax with the help of examples. The best possible locators in Xpath depend on the specific webpage being tested. In most cases, ID is considered the best locator. It is also advised to use relative paths as they are less likely to break if the structure of the web page changes.
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