XPath axes (parent, child, sibling) in Selenium Python - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

❓ locator

intermediate

Locate the parent element using XPath axes

Given the following HTML snippet, which XPath expression correctly selects the

element that is the parent of the element with text 'Hello'?

Selenium Python

<div class="container">
  <span>Hello</span>
</div>

A //span[text()='Hello']/child::div

B //div/child::span[text()='Hello']

C //div[text()='Hello']/parent::span

D //span[text()='Hello']/parent::div

💡 Hint

Remember that the parent axis selects the immediate parent node of the current node.

Option D uses the parent axis to select the

that is the parent of the with text 'Hello'. Option D selects the child of a

, not the parent. Option D tries to select a child

of , which does not exist. Option D incorrectly reverses the parent-child relationship.

❓ locator

intermediate

Select child elements with XPath axes

Which XPath expression selects all

child elements of the

with id 'menu'?

Selenium Python

<ul id="menu">
  <li>Home</li>
  <li>About</li>
  <li>Contact</li>
</ul>

A //ul[@id='menu']/child::li

B //li/child::ul[@id='menu']

C //ul[@id='menu']/parent::li

D //ul[@id='menu']/following-sibling::li

💡 Hint

Child axis selects direct children of the current node.

Option A correctly selects all

elements that are direct children of the

with id 'menu'. Option A tries to select a
child of
• , which is incorrect. Option A selects the parent of
  , which is not
  • . Option A selects siblings of
    , which are not
    • elements.

❓ Predict Output

advanced

Output of XPath sibling selection

Given the HTML below, what text will be selected by the XPath expression //h2[@id='title']/following-sibling::p[1]?

Selenium Python

<div>
  <h2 id="title">Section</h2>
  <p>First paragraph.</p>
  <p>Second paragraph.</p>
</div>

A Second paragraph.

B First paragraph.

C Section

D No element selected

💡 Hint

The following-sibling axis selects siblings after the current node. The [1] means the first following sibling.

The XPath selects the first

element that is a following sibling of the

with id 'title'. That is the

with text 'First paragraph.'.

❓ assertion

advanced

Assertion for sibling element text

You want to assert that the paragraph immediately following the

with id 'header' contains the text 'Welcome!'. Which assertion is correct in Python Selenium?

Selenium Python

element = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "//h2[@id='header']/following-sibling::p[1]")
actual_text = element.text

A assert actual_text == 'Welcome!'

B assert actual_text != 'Welcome!'

C assert 'Welcome!' in driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "//h2[@id='header']/parent::p").text

D assert element.text == 'header'

💡 Hint

Check that the text of the selected sibling matches exactly 'Welcome!'.

Option A correctly asserts that the text of the first following sibling

is exactly 'Welcome!'. Option A asserts the opposite. Option A uses parent axis incorrectly and will raise an error. Option A compares text to 'header' which is incorrect.

🔧 Debug

expert

Debugging XPath parent axis usage

The following Selenium code raises a NoSuchElementException. What is the most likely cause?

Selenium Python

element = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "//span[@class='label']/parent::div[@class='container']")

A Selenium does not support the parent axis in XPath.

B The parent axis cannot be used with predicates like [@class='container'].

C The <span> element does not have a parent <div> with class 'container'.

D The XPath syntax for parent axis is incorrect; it should be 'parent:div'.

💡 Hint

Check the HTML structure to confirm the parent element's class attribute.

Option C is correct because if the parent

does not have the class 'container', the XPath will not find any matching element, causing NoSuchElementException. Option C is wrong syntax; 'parent::' is correct. Option C is false; predicates can be used with axes. Option C is false; Selenium supports parent axis.