Selenium Locators Masterclass

// Find single element (throws exception if not found)
WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.locator);
 
// Find multiple elements (returns empty list if none found)
List<WebElement> elements = driver.findElements(By.locator);

<input type="text" id="username" name="user" />
<button id="submit-btn">Submit</button>

// Java
WebElement username = driver.findElement(By.id("username"));
WebElement submitBtn = driver.findElement(By.id("submit-btn"));

# Python
username = driver.find_element(By.ID, "username")
submit_btn = driver.find_element(By.ID, "submit-btn")

<input type="email" name="email" id="user-email" />
<input type="password" name="password" />
<select name="country">
  ...
</select>

// Java
WebElement email = driver.findElement(By.name("email"));
WebElement password = driver.findElement(By.name("password"));
WebElement country = driver.findElement(By.name("country"));

<button class="btn btn-primary submit-button">Submit</button>
<div class="error-message">Invalid input</div>

// Works - single class
WebElement error = driver.findElement(By.className("error-message"));
 
// Won't work - multiple classes
// WebElement btn = driver.findElement(By.className("btn btn-primary")); // Error!
 
// Use CSS Selector for multiple classes
WebElement btn = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector(".btn.btn-primary"));

// Find all links
List<WebElement> links = driver.findElements(By.tagName("a"));
 
// Find all inputs
List<WebElement> inputs = driver.findElements(By.tagName("input"));
 
// Find table rows
List<WebElement> rows = driver.findElements(By.tagName("tr"));

// Find links within a specific section
WebElement nav = driver.findElement(By.id("navigation"));
List<WebElement> navLinks = nav.findElements(By.tagName("a"));

<a href="/login">Sign In</a> <a href="/help">Need Help? Contact Support</a>

// Must match exactly
WebElement signIn = driver.findElement(By.linkText("Sign In"));

// Matches if text contains this string
WebElement help = driver.findElement(By.partialLinkText("Contact Support"));
WebElement help2 = driver.findElement(By.partialLinkText("Need Help"));

// Exact attribute match
By.cssSelector("[name='email']")
By.cssSelector("input[type='submit']")
 
// Attribute contains
By.cssSelector("[id*='partial']")      // Contains 'partial'
 
// Attribute starts with
By.cssSelector("[id^='user']")         // Starts with 'user'
 
// Attribute ends with
By.cssSelector("[id$='_field']")       // Ends with '_field'
 
// Has attribute (any value)
By.cssSelector("[disabled]")
By.cssSelector("input[required]")

// Direct child
By.cssSelector("form > input")         // Input directly inside form
 
// Descendant (any level)
By.cssSelector("form input")           // Input anywhere inside form
 
// Adjacent sibling
By.cssSelector("label + input")        // Input immediately after label
 
// General sibling
By.cssSelector("h2 ~ p")               // P elements after h2

// First/last child
By.cssSelector("ul li:first-child")
By.cssSelector("ul li:last-child")
 
// Nth child
By.cssSelector("tr:nth-child(2)")      // Second row
By.cssSelector("tr:nth-child(odd)")    // Odd rows
By.cssSelector("tr:nth-child(even)")   // Even rows
 
// Not selector
By.cssSelector("input:not([type='hidden'])")

// Login form fields
By.cssSelector("#login-form input[name='username']")
By.cssSelector("form#login input[type='password']")
 
// Data attributes (recommended for test automation)
By.cssSelector("[data-testid='submit-button']")
By.cssSelector("[data-qa='user-profile']")
 
// Table cells
By.cssSelector("table#users tbody tr:nth-child(3) td:nth-child(2)")

// Absolute path (fragile - avoid)
By.xpath("/html/body/div/form/input")
 
// Relative path (recommended)
By.xpath("//input")                    // Any input
By.xpath("//form//input")              // Input inside form

// By attribute
By.xpath("//input[@id='username']")
By.xpath("//input[@type='submit']")
 
// Multiple attributes
By.xpath("//input[@type='text' and @name='email']")
By.xpath("//input[@type='text' or @type='password']")
 
// Contains
By.xpath("//input[contains(@id, 'partial')]")
By.xpath("//input[contains(@class, 'error')]")
 
// Starts-with
By.xpath("//input[starts-with(@id, 'user')]")

// Exact text match
By.xpath("//button[text()='Submit']")
By.xpath("//a[text()='Sign In']")
 
// Contains text
By.xpath("//p[contains(text(), 'Welcome')]")
By.xpath("//div[contains(., 'Error')]")  // . includes child text
 
// Normalize space (handles whitespace)
By.xpath("//button[normalize-space()='Submit']")

// Parent
By.xpath("//input[@id='email']/..")           // Parent of email input
By.xpath("//input[@id='email']/parent::div")  // Parent div
 
// Ancestors
By.xpath("//input[@id='email']/ancestor::form")
 
// Following sibling
By.xpath("//label[text()='Email']/following-sibling::input")
 
// Preceding sibling
By.xpath("//input[@id='email']/preceding-sibling::label")
 
// Following (any element after)
By.xpath("//h2/following::p[1]")  // First p after h2

// Find button by text
By.xpath("//button[text()='Login']")
 
// Find element relative to label
By.xpath("//label[text()='Username']/following-sibling::input")
 
// Find table row containing text
By.xpath("//tr[contains(., 'John Smith')]")
 
// Find element with specific child
By.xpath("//div[contains(@class, 'alert')][contains(., 'Error')]")

// Good - data-testid is stable
By.cssSelector("[data-testid='login-button']")
 
// Avoid - class names change for styling
By.className("btn-blue-lg-rounded")

// Good - specific and short
By.cssSelector("#user-table tr:nth-child(3) .edit-btn")
 
// Avoid - overly specific
By.cssSelector("body > div.container > section > div.row > div.col-md-8 > table#user-table > tbody > tr:nth-child(3) > td > button.edit-btn")

// Good - unique combination
By.cssSelector("form#checkout input[name='card-number']")
 
// Risky - might match multiple elements
By.cssSelector("input[type='text']")

<button data-testid="submit-order" class="btn btn-primary">Place Order</button>

By.cssSelector("[data-testid='submit-order']")

// Test CSS selector
$$('css-selector-here')
 
// Test XPath
$x('xpath-here')