XPath with attributes in Selenium Python - Interactive Code Practice

Practice - 5 Tasks

1fill in blank

easy

Complete the code to find a button with the attribute id='submit'.

Selenium Python

button = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "//button[@[1]='submit']")

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

Aid

Bclass

Cname

Dtype

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using 'class' instead of 'id' when the button's id attribute is needed.

Using 'name' or 'type' which may not uniquely identify the button.

The XPath expression uses the attribute id to locate the button with id='submit'.

2fill in blank

medium

Complete the code to find an input element with attribute type='checkbox'.

Selenium Python

checkbox = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "//input[@[1]='checkbox']")

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

Aname

Btype

Cid

Dvalue

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using 'value' or 'id' which do not specify the input type.

Confusing 'name' with 'type' attribute.

The XPath expression selects an input element where the type attribute equals 'checkbox'.

3fill in blank

hard

Fix the error in the XPath to find a link with attribute href='#home'.

Selenium Python

link = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "//a[@[1]='#home']")

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

Aalt

Bsrc

Chref

Dtitle

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using 'src' which is for images, not links.

Using 'alt' or 'title' which are not link targets.

The correct attribute to locate a link's destination is href.

4fill in blank

hard

Fill both blanks to find a div with class='container' and data-role='main'.

Selenium Python

element = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "//div[@[1]='container' and @[2]='main']")

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

Aclass

Bid

Cdata-role

Drole

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using 'id' instead of 'class' for the first attribute.

Using 'role' instead of 'data-role' for the second attribute.

The XPath selects a div with class='container' and data-role='main'.

5fill in blank

hard

Fill all three blanks to create a dictionary comprehension that maps input names to their placeholder text if the input is required.

Selenium Python

placeholders = [1]: [2] for [3] in inputs if [3].get_attribute('required') is not None}

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

Ainput.get_attribute('name')

Binput.get_attribute('placeholder')

Cinput

Delement

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using 'element' instead of 'input' as the loop variable.

Mixing up keys and values in the dictionary comprehension.

This comprehension creates a dictionary where keys are input names and values are their placeholder text, only for inputs marked as required.

Practice

1. What does the XPath expression //input[@type='submit'] select on a web page?

easy

A. All <input> elements with attribute type equal to 'submit'

B. All elements with tag name 'submit'

C. All elements with attribute 'input' and value 'submit'

D. All <submit> elements inside <input> tags

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand XPath syntax

   The expression //input selects all <input> elements anywhere in the document.

2. Step 2: Apply attribute filter

   The part [@type='submit'] filters those <input> elements to only those whose 'type' attribute equals 'submit'.

3. Final Answer:

   All <input> elements with attribute type equal to 'submit' -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   XPath //tag[@attr='value'] selects elements by attribute [OK]

Hint: Look for tagname and attribute=value inside square brackets [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Confusing tag name with attribute name
• Ignoring the attribute filter
• Assuming it selects elements by text content

2. Which of the following is the correct XPath syntax to select a button element with id 'loginBtn'?

easy

A. //button[@id='loginBtn']

B. //button[id='loginBtn']

C. //button(#id='loginBtn')

D. //button[id="loginBtn"]

Solution

1. Step 1: Recall correct attribute syntax in XPath

   Attributes are selected using @attribute='value' inside square brackets.

2. Step 2: Check each option

   //button[@id='loginBtn'] uses @id='loginBtn' which is correct. //button[id='loginBtn'] misses '@'. //button(#id='loginBtn') uses invalid syntax. //button[id="loginBtn"] also misses '@' before the attribute name.

3. Final Answer:

   //button[@id='loginBtn'] -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Use @ before attribute name in XPath filters [OK]

Hint: Always prefix attribute with @ in XPath filters [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Omitting @ before attribute name
• Using parentheses instead of square brackets
• Incorrect quoting of attribute values

3. Given the HTML snippet:

<input type='checkbox' name='subscribe' checked>

What will the XPath //input[@checked] select?

medium

A. No elements, because 'checked' has no value

B. All <input> elements with attribute 'checked' equal to 'true'

C. All <input> elements with attribute 'checked' equal to 'checked'

D. All <input> elements with attribute 'checked' present

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand attribute presence in XPath

   The XPath [@checked] selects elements where the 'checked' attribute exists, regardless of its value.

2. Step 2: Apply to given HTML

   The input element has 'checked' attribute present (even without value), so it matches.

3. Final Answer:

   All <input> elements with attribute 'checked' present -> Option D

4. Quick Check:

   XPath [@attr] checks attribute presence, not value [OK]

Hint: Use [@attr] to check attribute exists, value not needed [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Assuming attribute must have a value
• Confusing attribute presence with attribute value
• Thinking empty attributes are ignored

4. You wrote this XPath to find a link: //a[@href='https://example.com'] but it fails to find the element. What is the likely error?

medium

A. The tag name 'a' is wrong, should be 'link'

B. XPath syntax is invalid because of missing @

C. The href attribute value is incorrect or incomplete

D. XPath cannot use attribute filters

Solution

1. Step 1: Verify XPath syntax correctness

   The XPath //a[@href='https://example.com'] is syntactically correct with proper attribute filter.

2. Step 2: Consider attribute value correctness

   If the element is not found, likely the href attribute value in the page differs (e.g., missing trailing slash, different protocol, or relative URL).

3. Final Answer:

   The href attribute value is incorrect or incomplete -> Option C

4. Quick Check:

   Check exact attribute values when XPath finds no elements [OK]

Hint: Verify exact attribute values match in XPath and page [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Assuming XPath syntax error without checking value
• Using wrong tag name for links
• Believing XPath cannot filter by attributes

5. You want to select all <input> elements that have a name attribute starting with 'user' and a type attribute exactly equal to 'text'. Which XPath expression is correct?

hard

A. //input[@name^='user' and @type='text']

B. //input[starts-with(@name, 'user') and @type='text']

C. //input[@name*='user' and @type='text']

D. //input[contains(@name, 'user') and @type='text']

Solution

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

   XPath uses starts-with(@attr, 'value') to check if attribute starts with a string.

2. Step 2: Combine conditions with 'and'

   Both conditions must be true: name starts with 'user' and type equals 'text'. //input[starts-with(@name, 'user') and @type='text'] correctly uses and to combine.

3. Step 3: Evaluate other options

   //input[@name^='user' and @type='text'] uses invalid syntax @name^='user'. //input[@name*='user' and @type='text'] uses *= which is not valid XPath. //input[contains(@name, 'user') and @type='text'] uses contains() which matches anywhere, not just start.

4. Final Answer:

   //input[starts-with(@name, 'user') and @type='text'] -> Option B

5. Quick Check:

   Use starts-with() for prefix match in XPath [OK]

Hint: Use starts-with() for attribute prefix matching in XPath [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using CSS-like ^= or *= operators in XPath
• Confusing contains() with starts-with()
• Not combining multiple conditions properly