XPath with text() in Selenium Python - Interactive Code Practice

Practice - 5 Tasks

1fill in blank

easy

Complete the code to find an element by exact text using XPath.

Selenium Python

element = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "//button[text()=[1]]")

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

A'submit'

B"Submit"

C"submit"

D'Submit'

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using double quotes inside double quotes without escaping causes syntax errors.

Using incorrect case in text() causes no match.

The XPath text() function requires the exact text in single quotes inside the XPath string. Using single quotes inside double quotes is correct.

2fill in blank

medium

Complete the code to find a link element containing partial text using XPath.

Selenium Python

element = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "//a[contains(text(), [1])]")

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

A"learn more"

B'Learn More'

C'learn more'

D"Learn More"

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Not quoting the text inside contains() causes syntax errors.

Using wrong case in text causes no match.

The contains() function in XPath matches partial text. The text must be in quotes inside the XPath string. Double quotes inside double quotes require escaping or using single quotes.

3fill in blank

hard

Fix the error in the XPath expression to find a div with exact text 'Welcome'.

Selenium Python

element = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "//div[text()=[1]]")

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

A'Welcome'

B"Welcome"

CWelcome

D'welcome'

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Not quoting the text inside text() causes XPath syntax errors.

Using wrong case in text causes no match.

The text() function requires the text to be quoted as a string literal. Using unquoted text causes XPath syntax error.

4fill in blank

hard

Fill both blanks to find a span element with text exactly 'Hello' and class 'greeting'.

Selenium Python

element = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "//span[text()=[1] and @class=[2]]")

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

A'Hello'

B"Hello"

C'greeting'

D"greeting"

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Not quoting text() or attribute values causes XPath errors.

Mixing quote types incorrectly causes syntax errors.

The text() function and attribute values must be quoted strings inside the XPath expression. Single quotes inside double quotes are common and consistent here.

5fill in blank

hard

Fill all three blanks to create a dictionary comprehension that maps button text to their ids for buttons containing 'Click'.

Selenium Python

buttons = driver.find_elements(By.XPATH, "//button[contains(text(), [1])]")
result = [2]: [3] for btn in buttons}

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

A'Click'

Bbtn.get_attribute('id')

Cbtn.text

Dbtn.text()

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using btn.text() instead of btn.text causes attribute errors.

Not quoting the text in XPath causes syntax errors.

Swapping key and value in dictionary comprehension.

The XPath contains() function needs the partial text quoted. In the dictionary comprehension, the key is the button text accessed by btn.text, and the value is the button's id attribute accessed by btn.get_attribute('id'). btn.text() is invalid in Selenium Python.

Practice

1. What does the XPath expression //button[text()='Submit'] select in a web page?

easy

A. A button element containing the word 'Submit' anywhere inside

B. Any element with the attribute text='Submit'

C. A button element with the exact visible text 'Submit'

D. All buttons regardless of their text

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand the XPath syntax

   The expression //button selects all button elements in the page.

2. Step 2: Analyze the text() condition

   The predicate [text()='Submit'] filters buttons whose visible text exactly matches 'Submit'.

3. Final Answer:

   A button element with the exact visible text 'Submit' -> Option C

4. Quick Check:

   XPath with text() matches exact visible text [OK]

Hint: Use text() to match exact visible text in XPath [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Confusing attribute matching with text()
• Assuming partial text matches work
• Ignoring case sensitivity in text()

2. Which of the following is the correct XPath syntax to select a link (<a>) with the visible text exactly 'Home'?

easy

A. //a[contains(text(), 'Home')]

B. //a[text()='Home']

C. //a[@text='Home']

D. //a[text() = Home]

Solution

1. Step 1: Check the correct use of text() function

   The correct syntax to match exact text is text()='Home' inside square brackets.

2. Step 2: Identify syntax errors in other options

   //a[contains(text(), 'Home')] uses contains() which matches partial text, not exact. //a[@text='Home'] incorrectly treats text as an attribute. //a[text() = Home] misses quotes around 'Home'.

3. Final Answer:

   //a[text()='Home'] -> Option B

4. Quick Check:

   Exact text match requires text()='value' with quotes [OK]

Hint: Exact text match uses text()='value' with quotes [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using contains() instead of text() for exact match
• Treating text as an attribute
• Missing quotes around text value

3. Given the following HTML snippet:

<div>
  <span>Login</span>
  <span>Logout</span>
  <span>Login</span>
</div>

What will be the result of this Selenium Python code?

elements = driver.find_elements(By.XPATH, "//span[text()='Login']")
print(len(elements))

medium

A. 2

B. 1

C. 3

D. 0

Solution

1. Step 1: Identify elements matching XPath

   The XPath //span[text()='Login'] selects all <span> elements with exact text 'Login'. There are two such spans in the HTML.

2. Step 2: Count the matched elements

   The find_elements method returns a list of matching elements. Its length is 2.

3. Final Answer:

   2 -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Count of spans with text 'Login' = 2 [OK]

Hint: Count elements with exact text using find_elements and len() [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Assuming only one element matches
• Confusing find_element with find_elements
• Ignoring exact text match requirement

4. You wrote this XPath to find a button with text 'Cancel': //button[text()='Cancel']. But your test fails to find the button. What is the most likely reason?

medium

A. The button text has extra spaces or different case

B. The XPath syntax is invalid

C. The button element does not exist on the page

D. The text() function matches partial text only

Solution

1. Step 1: Check XPath syntax correctness

   The XPath //button[text()='Cancel'] is syntactically correct, so syntax error is unlikely.

2. Step 2: Consider text matching behavior

   The text() function matches exact visible text including spaces and case. If the button text has extra spaces or different case (e.g., ' cancel ' or 'CANCEL'), it won't match.

3. Final Answer:

   The button text has extra spaces or different case -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Exact text match fails if spaces or case differ [OK]

Hint: Check exact text including spaces and case for text() [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Assuming text() matches partial or case-insensitive text
• Ignoring leading/trailing spaces in text
• Blaming XPath syntax without checking text content

5. You want to select a <div> element that contains exactly the text 'Error: Invalid input' but the text may have leading or trailing spaces. Which XPath expression correctly handles this using text() and normalize-space()?

hard

A. //div[normalize-space()='Error: Invalid input']

B. //div[text()='Error: Invalid input']

C. //div[contains(text(), 'Error: Invalid input')]

D. //div[normalize-space(text())='Error: Invalid input']

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand the problem with spaces

   Text may have extra spaces, so exact text()='Error: Invalid input' won't match if spaces differ.

2. Step 2: Use normalize-space() to trim spaces

   normalize-space(text()) removes leading and trailing spaces before comparison, ensuring correct match.

3. Step 3: Evaluate options

   //div[text()='Error: Invalid input'] fails if spaces differ. //div[contains(text(), 'Error: Invalid input')] matches partial text, not exact. //div[normalize-space()='Error: Invalid input'] uses normalize-space() without text(), which may fail if element has multiple text nodes.

4. Final Answer:

   //div[normalize-space(text())='Error: Invalid input'] -> Option D

5. Quick Check:

   Use normalize-space(text()) for exact text ignoring spaces [OK]

Hint: Use normalize-space(text()) to ignore extra spaces in XPath [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Not trimming spaces before text comparison
• Using contains() for exact match
• Applying normalize-space() incorrectly