XPath axes (parent, following-sibling, preceding) in Selenium Java

Introduction

XPath axes help you find elements related to a known element in a web page. They make locating elements easier when you know their position relative to others.

When you want to find the parent element of a known child element.

When you need to locate a sibling element that comes after the current element.

When you want to find a sibling element that comes before the current element.

Syntax

Selenium Java

xpath_expression/axis_name::node_test

Replace axis_name with parent, following-sibling, or preceding-sibling.

node_test usually specifies the tag name or * for any node.

Examples

Selects the parent div of the element with id 'child'.

Selenium Java

//div[@id='child']/parent::div

Selects all li elements that come after the current li with class 'item' on the same level.

Selenium Java

//li[@class='item']/following-sibling::li

Selects all input elements that come before the span with class 'label' on the same level.

Selenium Java

//span[@class='label']/preceding-sibling::input

Sample Program

This Java Selenium code opens a test page, finds a child element by ID, then uses XPath axes to find its parent, following sibling, and preceding sibling elements. It prints their tag names or IDs.

Selenium Java

import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;

public class XPathAxesExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "path/to/chromedriver");
        WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
        try {
            driver.get("https://example.com/testpage");

            // Find child element
            WebElement child = driver.findElement(By.id("childElement"));

            // Find parent of the child element
            WebElement parent = child.findElement(By.xpath("parent::div"));
            System.out.println("Parent tag name: " + parent.getTagName());

            // Find following sibling of the child element
            WebElement followingSibling = child.findElement(By.xpath("following-sibling::div"));
            System.out.println("Following sibling id: " + followingSibling.getAttribute("id"));

            // Find preceding sibling of the child element
            WebElement precedingSibling = child.findElement(By.xpath("preceding-sibling::div"));
            System.out.println("Preceding sibling id: " + precedingSibling.getAttribute("id"));

        } finally {
            driver.quit();
        }
    }
}

Important Notes

Always ensure the XPath axes match the actual HTML structure to avoid errors.

Using axes can make your locators more flexible and robust when element positions change.

Summary

XPath axes help navigate between related elements in the page.

Common axes are parent, following-sibling, and preceding-sibling.

They improve locating elements when direct attributes are missing.