Find element by partial link text in Selenium Python - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

❓ locator

intermediate

Locate element using partial link text

You want to find a link on a webpage that contains the text "Learn" anywhere in its visible text. Which Selenium locator will correctly find this element?

A driver.find_element(By.LINK_TEXT, "Learn")

B driver.find_element(By.PARTIAL_LINK_TEXT, "Learn")

C driver.find_element(By.PARTIAL_LINK_TEXT, "learn")

D driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "a[href*='Learn']")

💡 Hint

Partial link text matches part of the visible text, case sensitive.

Option B uses By.PARTIAL_LINK_TEXT with the exact substring "Learn" which matches part of the link text.

Option B requires the full link text to be exactly "Learn" which is unlikely.

Option B uses lowercase "learn" which is case sensitive and will not match "Learn".

Option B uses CSS selector which matches href attribute, not visible link text.

❓ Predict Output

intermediate

Output of partial link text locator code

Given the following HTML snippet:

<a href='/home'>Home Page</a>
<a href='/learn'>Learn Selenium</a>
<a href='/contact'>Contact Us</a>

What will be the text of the element found by:

element = driver.find_element(By.PARTIAL_LINK_TEXT, "Learn")
print(element.text)

A Learn Selenium

B Contact Us

C Home Page

D NoSuchElementException

💡 Hint

Partial link text matches visible text containing the substring.

The link with text "Learn Selenium" contains the substring "Learn" so it is found and printed.

Other links do not contain "Learn".

❓ assertion

advanced

Assertion for partial link text element presence

You want to write a test assertion to verify that a link containing the text "Docs" is present on the page using Selenium in Python. Which assertion is correct?

Selenium Python

element = driver.find_element(By.PARTIAL_LINK_TEXT, "Docs")

A assert element == None

B assert element.text == "Docs"

C assert element.is_displayed()

D assert element.get_attribute('href') == "Docs"

💡 Hint

Check if the element is visible, not exact text or attribute.

Option C asserts the element is visible on the page, which confirms presence.

Option C fails if the link text is longer than "Docs" (e.g., "Documentation").

Option C incorrectly compares href attribute to "Docs" string.

Option C asserts element is None which is false if element is found.

🔧 Debug

advanced

Debugging partial link text locator failure

You wrote this code to find a link containing "Help":

element = driver.find_element(By.PARTIAL_LINK_TEXT, "help")

But it raises NoSuchElementException even though the page has a link with text "Help Center". What is the most likely cause?

A The element is inside an iframe and not accessible

B The link text "Help Center" is too long for partial link text

C The locator By.PARTIAL_LINK_TEXT does not work with spaces

D Partial link text matching is case sensitive, "help" does not match "Help"

💡 Hint

Check case sensitivity of partial link text.

Partial link text matching is case sensitive, so "help" does not match "Help".

Option D is false because partial link text matches any substring.

Option D is false; spaces are allowed.

Option D could cause failure but question states the link is on the page, so less likely.

❓ framework

expert

Best practice for waiting for partial link text element

In a Selenium test, you want to wait up to 10 seconds for a link containing "Start" to appear before interacting with it. Which code snippet correctly implements this wait using WebDriverWait and partial link text locator?

A element = WebDriverWait(driver, 10).until(EC.presence_of_element_located((By.PARTIAL_LINK_TEXT, "Start")))

B element = WebDriverWait(driver, 10).until(EC.presence_of_element_located((By.CSS_SELECTOR, "a:contains('Start')")))

C element = WebDriverWait(driver, 10).until(EC.element_to_be_clickable((By.PARTIAL_LINK_TEXT, "start")))

D element = WebDriverWait(driver, 10).until(EC.visibility_of_element_located((By.LINK_TEXT, "Start")))

💡 Hint

Use correct locator and expected condition for presence.

Option A waits for presence of element located by partial link text "Start" which is correct.

Option A uses full link text locator which may fail if text is longer.

Option A uses lowercase "start" which is case sensitive and may fail.

Option A uses invalid CSS selector syntax; :contains is not supported.

Practice

1. What does the Selenium method find_element_by_partial_link_text do?

easy

A. Finds a link element containing the specified partial text.

B. Finds any element with the exact text match.

C. Finds elements by their HTML tag name.

D. Finds elements by their CSS class name.

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand the method purpose

   The method find_element_by_partial_link_text searches for <a> elements that contain the given text partially.

2. Step 2: Compare with other locator methods

   Unlike exact text match or tag name search, this method matches any link containing the partial text.

3. Final Answer:

   Finds a link element containing the specified partial text. -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Partial link text = Finds links with partial text [OK]

Hint: Partial link text finds links by part of their visible text [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Confusing partial link text with exact text match
• Using it on non-link elements
• Expecting it to find by attribute instead of visible text

2. Which of the following is the correct syntax to find a link containing the text "Login" using Selenium in Python?

easy

A. driver.find_element_by_partial_link_text['Login']

B. driver.find_element_by_partial_link_text(Login)

C. driver.find_element_by_partial_link_text("Login")

D. driver.find_element_by_partial_link_text{Login}

Solution

1. Step 1: Check method usage and argument format

   The method requires a string argument inside parentheses and quotes, like "Login".

2. Step 2: Validate Python syntax

   driver.find_element_by_partial_link_text("Login") uses correct parentheses and quotes. Options A, B, and D have syntax errors or wrong brackets.

3. Final Answer:

   driver.find_element_by_partial_link_text("Login") -> Option C

4. Quick Check:

   Correct method call uses parentheses and quotes [OK]

Hint: Use parentheses and quotes for string argument in method call [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Omitting quotes around the string
• Using square or curly brackets instead of parentheses
• Passing variable without quotes

3. What will the following code print if the page has a link with text "Click here to Login"?

element = driver.find_element_by_partial_link_text("Login")
print(element.text)

medium

A. NoSuchElementException

B. Login

C. Click here

D. Click here to Login

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand partial link text matching

   The method finds the first link containing "Login" anywhere in its visible text.

2. Step 2: Check what element.text returns

   It returns the full visible text of the found link, which is "Click here to Login".

3. Final Answer:

   Click here to Login -> Option D

4. Quick Check:

   Partial match finds full link text [OK]

Hint: Partial link text finds full link text, not just the partial part [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Expecting only the partial text to print
• Assuming it throws exception if partial matches
• Confusing element.text with attribute values

4. Given this code snippet, what is the error and how to fix it?

element = driver.find_element_by_partial_link_text(Login)
print(element.text)

medium

A. SyntaxError due to missing parentheses; fix by adding parentheses

B. NameError because Login is not quoted; fix by adding quotes: "Login"

C. NoSuchElementException because partial link text is incorrect

D. TypeError because find_element_by_partial_link_text expects int

Solution

1. Step 1: Identify the error in argument usage

   The argument Login is not in quotes, so Python treats it as a variable, causing NameError.

2. Step 2: Correct the argument to a string

   Wrap Login in quotes like "Login" to pass a string literal.

3. Final Answer:

   NameError because Login is not quoted; fix by adding quotes: "Login" -> Option B

4. Quick Check:

   String arguments need quotes [OK]

Hint: Always quote string arguments in Selenium locators [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Forgetting quotes around string literals
• Assuming partial link text accepts variables without quotes
• Misreading error type as syntax error

5. You want to click a link that contains either "Sign" or "Register" in its text. Which approach correctly finds and clicks the link using Selenium in Python?

hard

A. Try finding by partial link text "Sign" first, if not found, then try "Register".

B. Use find_element_by_partial_link_text("Sign or Register") to find either.

C. Use CSS selector to find links containing "Sign" or "Register" text.

D. Use find_element_by_link_text("Sign Register") to find combined text.

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand partial link text limitation

   The method matches only one partial string at a time; it cannot match multiple alternatives in one call.

2. Step 2: Implement fallback logic

   Try finding link with "Sign" first; if not found, catch exception and try "Register" next.

3. Final Answer:

   Try finding by partial link text "Sign" first, if not found, then try "Register". -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Partial link text matches one string; use fallback for multiple options [OK]

Hint: Try partial link texts one by one for multiple options [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using 'or' inside partial link text string
• Expecting one call to match multiple partial texts
• Using link_text instead of partial_link_text for partial matches