XPath functions (contains, starts-with) in Selenium Java - Interactive Code Practice

Practice - 5 Tasks

1fill in blank

easy

Complete the code to find an element whose text contains 'Submit'.

Selenium Java

WebElement button = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//button[[1](text(), 'Submit')]");

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Astarts-with(text(),

Btext()=

Ccontains(text(),

Dends-with(text(),

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using 'starts-with' instead of 'contains' when searching for substring anywhere.

Using 'text()=' which looks for exact match.

The contains() function checks if the text contains the given substring.

2fill in blank

medium

Complete the code to find an element whose id starts with 'user_'.

Selenium Java

WebElement input = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//input[[1](@id, 'user_')]");

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Astarts-with

Bcontains

Cends-with

Dequals

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using 'contains' which matches anywhere, not just start.

Using 'ends-with' which is not supported in XPath 1.0.

The starts-with() function checks if the attribute value begins with the given string.

3fill in blank

hard

Fix the error in the XPath expression to find a link whose href contains 'login'.

Selenium Java

WebElement link = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//a[[1](@href, 'login')]");

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Acontains

Bstart-with

Cstarts-with

Dcontain

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Misspelling 'starts-with' as 'start-with'.

Using 'contain' which is not a valid XPath function.

The correct function name is starts-with() or contains(). Here, to check if href contains 'login', use contains(). The option 'start-with' is misspelled, 'contain' is invalid.

4fill in blank

hard

Fill both blanks to find a div element whose class starts with 'alert' and contains 'error'.

Selenium Java

WebElement alertDiv = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//div[[1](@class, 'alert') and [2](@class, 'error')]");

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Astarts-with

Bequals

Ccontains

Dends-with

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using 'equals' which requires exact match.

Using 'ends-with' which is not supported in XPath 1.0.

Use starts-with() to check the class starts with 'alert' and contains() to check it contains 'error'.

5fill in blank

hard

Fill all three blanks to create a map of elements with keys as uppercase tag names and values as text, filtering only those whose text starts with 'Test'.

Selenium Java

Map<String, String> elementsMap = elements.stream()
  .filter(e -> e.getText().[1]("Test"))
  .collect(Collectors.toMap(e -> e.getTagName().[2](), e -> e.[3]()));

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

AstartsWith

BtoUpperCase

CgetText

Dcontains

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using 'contains' instead of 'startsWith' for filtering.

Using 'getText' incorrectly on the key instead of value.

Use startsWith to filter text starting with 'Test', toUpperCase to convert tag names to uppercase, and getText to get element text.

Practice

1. Which XPath function would you use to locate elements whose attribute contains a specific substring anywhere within it?

easy

A. starts-with()

B. ends-with()

C. contains()

D. equals()

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand the purpose of contains()

   The contains() function checks if an attribute or text contains a given substring anywhere inside it.

2. Step 2: Compare with other functions

   starts-with() checks only the beginning, ends-with() is not standard XPath 1.0, and equals() is not an XPath function.

3. Final Answer:

   contains() -> Option C

4. Quick Check:

   Substring anywhere = contains() [OK]

Hint: Use contains() for substring anywhere inside attribute [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Confusing contains() with starts-with()
• Using ends-with() which is not standard XPath 1.0
• Trying to use equals() as XPath function

2. Which of the following is the correct XPath syntax to find a button element whose id attribute starts with "submit"?

easy

A. //button[contains(@id, 'submit')]

B. //button[@id*='submit']

C. //button[@id^='submit']

D. //button[starts-with(@id, 'submit')]

Solution

1. Step 1: Identify the correct XPath function for 'starts with'

   The function starts-with() is used to check if an attribute starts with a substring.

2. Step 2: Check syntax correctness

   //button[starts-with(@id, 'submit')] is correct XPath syntax. Options B and C use invalid XPath operators.

3. Final Answer:

   //button[starts-with(@id, 'submit')] -> Option D

4. Quick Check:

   Starts with = starts-with() [OK]

Hint: Use starts-with(@attr, 'text') for prefix matching [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using contains() instead of starts-with() for prefix
• Using CSS selector syntax like ^= in XPath
• Incorrect function syntax or missing parentheses

3. Given the following HTML snippet:

<input type="text" id="user_email" value="[e-mail]"/>

What is the result of this XPath query?
//*[@id[contains(., 'user')]]

medium

A. Syntax error due to incorrect XPath function usage

B. Selects all elements with any id attribute

C. Selects the input element because its id contains 'user'

D. Selects no elements because 'user' is not in the value attribute

Solution

1. Step 1: Analyze the XPath syntax

   The XPath //*[@id[contains(., 'user')]] is syntactically incorrect because @id is an attribute node and cannot be used as a function or have predicates applied directly like this.

2. Step 2: Correct XPath syntax

   To check if the id attribute contains 'user', the correct XPath is //*[@id[contains(., 'user')]] is invalid; instead use //*[contains(@id, 'user')].

3. Final Answer:

   Syntax error due to incorrect XPath function usage -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Attribute predicates must be correctly formed [OK]

Hint: Use contains(@id, 'user') not @id[contains()] [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using predicates directly on attribute nodes
• Assuming . refers to attribute value in this context
• Incorrect predicate syntax

4. You wrote this XPath to find links starting with "http":
//a[contains(starts-with(@href, 'http'))]
Why does this XPath fail to find any elements?

medium

A. Because @href attribute is missing

B. Because contains() cannot wrap starts-with() function

C. Because starts-with() requires two arguments

D. Because the syntax is correct but no links start with 'http'

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand function nesting rules in XPath

   The contains() function expects two string arguments, but here it wraps starts-with() which returns a boolean, causing a syntax error.

2. Step 2: Correct usage

   Use either starts-with(@href, 'http') alone or contains(@href, 'http'), but not nested.

3. Final Answer:

   Because contains() cannot wrap starts-with() function -> Option B

4. Quick Check:

   Do not nest contains() and starts-with() [OK]

Hint: Do not nest XPath functions like contains(starts-with()) [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Nesting contains() and starts-with() incorrectly
• Assuming starts-with() returns string for contains()
• Ignoring function argument requirements

5. You want to locate all <div> elements whose class attribute starts with "alert" but excludes those that contain "dismiss" anywhere in the class. Which XPath expression correctly achieves this?

hard

A. //div[starts-with(@class, 'alert') and not(contains(@class, 'dismiss'))]

B. //div[contains(@class, 'alert') and not(starts-with(@class, 'dismiss'))]

C. //div[starts-with(@class, 'alert') or not(contains(@class, 'dismiss'))]

D. //div[contains(@class, 'alert') or contains(@class, 'dismiss')]

Solution

1. Step 1: Use starts-with() to match class beginning

   The expression starts-with(@class, 'alert') selects elements whose class attribute begins with "alert".

2. Step 2: Exclude elements containing 'dismiss'

   The not(contains(@class, 'dismiss')) excludes elements whose class contains "dismiss" anywhere.

3. Step 3: Combine conditions with and

   Both conditions must be true, so use and to combine them.

4. Final Answer:

   //div[starts-with(@class, 'alert') and not(contains(@class, 'dismiss'))] -> Option A

5. Quick Check:

   Starts with alert AND no dismiss = //div[starts-with(@class, 'alert') and not(contains(@class, 'dismiss'))] [OK]

Hint: Combine starts-with() and not(contains()) with and [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using or instead of and causing wrong matches
• Mixing contains() and starts-with() incorrectly
• Forgetting to negate contains() for exclusion