Python Selenium CSS Selector

The Python selenium CSS selector is an attribute of a web element used to locate a web element quickly on the web page. The Python selenium CSS selector makes searching for the web element easier and relatively faster than the XPath in Internet Explorer. This guide will give you a walkthrough of the Python Selenium CSS selector and its usage.

What is a Python Selenium CSS selector?

The CSS in Python Selenium CSS selector stands for Cascading Style Sheets. The selenium CSS selector is usually used to locate any web elements by identifying them based on their ID, class, name, and attributes in place of XPath. The Python Selenium CSS selector is more convenient for searching web elements in Selenium Web Driver as it is easier and faster to use than the XPath.

The Python Selenium CSS selector, similar to XPath, can also identify and locate a web element without ID, class, or Name. It uses regular and element selectors to identify and locate a web element on a web page.

The Python Selenium CSS selector can be grouped into five types based on the attributes that you are looking for.

Class

The class in Python Selenium CSS selector is used to select the class attribute of a web element in a web page. It is used with “.”.

Syntax: –

driver.findElement(By.cssSelector(“<tagname>[class=’<class value>’]”));

ID

The ID attribute in the Python Selenium CSS selector is a CSS selector that locates the web element through its ID. It uses a # sign for the ID.

Syntax: –

Html Code : <label id='First'>css id</label>

CSS selector value : #first

Attribute: –

Similar to ID and class, there are other attributes in the Python Selenium CSS selector there are other attributes that are used to locate the web with the help of the CSS selector.

Syntax:-

driver.findElement(By.cssSelector(“<tagname>[href=’<href value>’]”));

Combined Attributes

The Combined Attributes in the Python Selenium CSS selector help to identify and locate the web elements that can not be found with the help of a single attribute and use multiple attributes combined. This attribute type is often used to create a unique attribute that can help distinguish when two web elements are pointed. Based on the attributes combined, it can be of many types. Below are the two types of commonly used combined attributes.

ID and attribute Syntax: –

driver.findElement(By.cssSelector(“<tagname>#<id value>[href=’<href value>’]”));

Class and attribute Syntax: –

driver.findElement(By.cssSelector(“<tagname>.<class value>[href=’<href value>’]”));

How to use string in Python Selenium CSS selector?

The string in the Python Selenium CSS selector represents the start, contents, and end of a text when allowed by the CSS selector to match the various symbols. It can be done in three ways.

By matching a prefix

It locates web elements by using substrings starting with a certain value.

Syntax: –

driver.findElement(By.cssSelector(“<tagname>[<attribute>^=’prefix of the string’]”));

By matching the substring entirely

It locates web elements by only using substrings.

Syntax: –

driver.findElement(By.cssSelector(“<tagname>[<attribute>*=’substring’]”));

By matching a suffix

It locates web elements by using substrings ending with a certain value.

Syntax: –

driver.findElement(By.cssSelector(“<tagname>[<attribute>$=’suffix of the string’]”));

How to use the Python Selenium CSS selector?

As mentioned above, the Python Selenium CSS selector is used to find the particular web elements in a web page. The Python Selenium CSS selector is used in various ways based on the number of elements to be found. The web elements can be found using the find_element() function in the CSS selector and passing it through the By.CSS_SELECTOR function.

To find a single element

To find a single web element in the web page using the CSS selector, you can identify it by any attributes and locate it.

Syntax: –

from selenium import webdriver

from webdriver_manager.chrome import ChromeDriverManager

from selenium.webdriver.chrome.service import Service as ChromeService

from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By

driver = webdriver.Chrome(service=ChromeService(ChromeDriverManager().install()))

driver.get('https://pythonexamples.org/tmp/selenium/index-52.html')

my_div = driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, 'div.xyz')

print(my_div.get_attribute("outerHTML"))

driver.quit()

To find multiple elements

The Python Selenium CSS selector can also find multiple web elements. However, this might be a bit complicated as the CSS Selector only returns the first element if various elements are present.

Syntax: –

from selenium import webdriver

from webdriver_manager.chrome import ChromeDriverManager

from selenium.webdriver.chrome.service import Service as ChromeService

from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By

driver = webdriver.Chrome(service=ChromeService(ChromeDriverManager().install()))

driver.get('https://pythonexamples.org/tmp/selenium/index-53.html')

my_div = driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, 'div.xyz')

print(my_div.get_attribute("outerHTML"))

driver.quit()

No element found

If there are no web elements in a web page that we are searching for, then whenever the find_element() function is used, it will raise the Nosuchelementexception.

Syntax: –

from selenium import webdriver

from webdriver_manager.chrome import ChromeDriverManager

from selenium.webdriver.chrome.service import Service as ChromeService

from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By

driver = webdriver.Chrome(service=ChromeService(ChromeDriverManager().install()))

driver.get('https://pythonexamples.org/tmp/selenium/index-51.html')

my_div = driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, 'div.xyz')

print(my_div.get_attribute("outerHTML"))

driver.quit()

FAQs

Conclusion

This guide has all the information regarding the Python Selenium CSS selector and its instructions. This guide will also help you understand the Python Selenium CSS selector function can reshape an array to shape.

Reference

1. NoSuchElementException
2. Attribute

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