This is what we call a location path. It allows us to specify the path from the context node in this case the root of the tree to the element we want to select, as we do when addressing files in a file system.
The location path above has three location steps , separated by slashes. The context node changes in each step. For example, the head node is the context node when the last step is being evaluated. We can select them using:. In fact, the expressions we've just seen are using XPath's abbreviated syntax.
This part of the expression is called the axis and it specifies a set of nodes to select from, based on their direction on the tree from the current context downwards, upwards, on the same tree level. The next part of the expression, node , is called a node test , and it contains an expression that is evaluated to decide whether a given node should be selected or not.
In this case, it selects nodes from all types. Then we have another axis, child which means go to the child nodes from the current context , followed by another node test, which selects the nodes named as title.
So, the axis defines where in the tree the node test should be applied and the nodes that match the node test will be returned as a result. This expression selects the text nodes from inside p elements. Consider this HTML document:. Say we want to select only the first li node from the snippet above. We can do this with:. In this case, it checks each node's position using the position function, which returns the position of the current node in the resulting node-set notice that positions in XPath start at 1, not 0.
We can abbreviate the expression above to:. It helps to find the exact text elements and it locates the elements within the set of text nodes. The elements to be located should be in string form. In this expression, with text function, we find the element with exact text match as shown below. These XPath axes methods are used to find the complex or dynamic elements. Below we will see some of these methods. Selects all elements in the document of the current node [ UserID input box is the current node] as shown in the below screen.
If you want to focus on any particular element then you can use the below XPath method:. The ancestor axis selects all ancestors element grandparent, parent, etc. If you want to focus on any particular element then you can use the below XPath, where you change the number 1, 2 as per your requirement:. If you want to focus on any particular element then you can use the below xpath:. If you want to focus on any particular element then you can use the below XPath:.
Select the following siblings of the context node. Siblings are at the same level of the current node as shown in the below screen. It will find the element after the current node. It always finds only one node as it represents self-element. Asked 5 years, 10 months ago. Active 4 years, 5 months ago. Viewed 1k times. FindElements By. Improve this question. Use whatever you are more comfortable with! Have a read through a recent discussion here: stackoverflow. Add a comment.
Active Oldest Votes. In this particular case, XPath can even simplify the problem to a single line: driver. FindElement By. XPath String. Improve this answer. I've always avoided xpath like it was a disease. Unfortunately, I got stuck on a stubborn web element buried deep inside a table unfortunately with no id or class. I tried everything and even invited my great great grand parents but nay I do not want anything less than professional in my work.
So, my questions are is xpath reliable and a good practice? Is it professional to use xpath? Never use indexes in your xpath. It becomes very fragile and will break every single time even when there is a small change in the target application. Try to ask the developers to add ID to that object.
It depends on the cases. Ultimate goal is to find selector which is unique and never changing until big change happens. You are using absolute xpath, which is unreadable and changing one. Using absolute xpath is completely unprofessional. The above cases are not possible with css selector and xpath is the only straight forward way to find those element.
You can also achieve these indirectly with jquery selector and javascript executor.
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