Locating Elements

Learn all about how you can reliably locate elements on a webpage for automation/data scraping

Introduction

On this page, you'll learn about all of the methods available for reliably locating elements on any webpage with Simple Selenium.

List Of All Element Locators

By Element ID

Locate an element on a webpage by using the "id" attribute:

my_element=driver.by_id("idValueOfElement") #Tries to locate element with id="idValueOfElement"
#Returns False if unable to find element

#Default options for by_id:
retry_if_fail=True #Whether or not driver should retry (max_retries) number of times before returning False
max_retries=5 #Max number of retries before returning False
delay_for_each_retry=1 #Delay in seconds between each attempt

#by_id with custom options
my_element=driver.by_id("idValueOfElement",retry_if_fail=False) #Stops driver from trying to locate element multiple times

By Element Name

Locate an element on a webpage by using the "name" attribute:

my_element=driver.by_name("nameValueOfElement") #Tries to locate element with name="nameValueOfElement"
#Returns False if unable to find element

#Default options for by_name:
retry_if_fail=True #Whether or not driver should retry (max_retries) number of times before returning False
max_retries=5 #Max number of retries before returning False
delay_for_each_retry=1 #Delay in seconds between each attempt

#by_name with custom options
my_element=driver.by_name("nameValueOfElement",retry_if_fail=False) #Stops driver from trying to locate element multiple times

By Element XPath

Locate an element on a webpage by using an element's XPath:

my_element=driver.by_xpath("/html/body/div/main/targetElement") #Tries to locate element by XPath
#Returns False if unable to find element

#Default options for by_xpath:
multiple_elements=False #Whether driver should return all elements found, or just the first one
retry_if_fail=True #Whether or not driver should retry (max_retries) number of times before returning False
max_retries=5 #Max number of retries before returning False
delay_for_each_retry=1 #Delay in seconds between each attempt

#by_xpath with custom options
my_element=driver.by_xpath("/html/body/div/main/targetElement",retry_if_fail=False) #Stops driver from trying to locate element multiple times

By Element Tag Name

Locate an element on a webpage by using an element's tag name:

my_element=driver.by_tag("tagName") #Tries to locate element by element tag name (eg p, textarea, button, etc.)
#Returns False if unable to find element

#Default options for by_tag:
multiple_elements=False #Whether driver should return all elements found, or just the first one
retry_if_fail=True #Whether or not driver should retry (max_retries) number of times before returning False
max_retries=5 #Max number of retries before returning False
delay_for_each_retry=1 #Delay in seconds between each attempt

#by_tag with custom options
my_element=driver.by_tag("tagName",multiple_elements=True) #Finds & returns all elements that have the "tagName" tag name

By Element Class Name

Locate an element on a webpage by using an element's class name:

my_element=driver.by_class("className") #Tries to locate element with class="className" attribute
#Returns False if unable to find element

#Default options for by_class:
multiple_elements=False #Whether driver should return all elements found, or just the first one
retry_if_fail=True #Whether or not driver should retry (max_retries) number of times before returning False
max_retries=5 #Max number of retries before returning False
delay_for_each_retry=1 #Delay in seconds between each attempt

#by_class with custom options
my_element=driver.by_class("className",multiple_elements=True) #Finds & returns all elements where class="className"

By Element Query Selector

Locate an element on a webpage by using an element's query selector:

my_element=driver.by_selector("#__next > main > div:nth-child(1) > targetElement") #Tries to locate element with the target query selector
#Returns False if unable to find element

#Default options for by_selector:
multiple_elements=False #Whether driver should return all elements found, or just the first one
retry_if_fail=True #Whether or not driver should retry (max_retries) number of times before returning False
max_retries=5 #Max number of retries before returning False
delay_for_each_retry=1 #Delay in seconds between each attempt

#by_selector with custom options
my_element=driver.by_selector("#__next > main > div:nth-child(1) > targetElement",multiple_elements=True) #Finds & returns all elements where their query selector=the target selector

By Any Element Attribute

Locate an element on a webpage by using any one of an element's attributes:

my_element=driver.by_attr("aria-label","targetAriaLabel") #Tries to locate element where aria-label="targetAriaLabel"
#Returns False if unable to find element

my_element=driver.by_attr("value","targetValue") #Tries to locate element where value="targetValue"
#Returns False if unable to find element

#Default options for by_attr:
multiple_elements=False #Whether driver should return all elements found, or just the first one
retry_if_fail=True #Whether or not driver should retry (max_retries) number of times before returning False
max_retries=5 #Max number of retries before returning False
delay_for_each_retry=1 #Delay in seconds between each attempt

#by_attr with custom options
my_element=driver.by_attr("aria-label","targetAriaLabel",multiple_elements=True) #Tries to locate all elements where aria-label="targetAriaLabel" 

By Element Text

Locate an element on a webpage by using an element's visible text:

my_element=driver.by_text("Test Button") #Tries to locate element where the visible text="Test Button"
#Returns False if unable to find element

#Default options for by_text:
multiple_elements=False #Whether driver should return all elements found, or just the first one
retry_if_fail=True #Whether or not driver should retry (max_retries) number of times before returning False
max_retries=5 #Max number of retries before returning False
delay_for_each_retry=1 #Delay in seconds between each attempt

#by_text with custom options
my_element=driver.by_text("Test Button",multiple_elements=True) #Finds & returns all elements where their visible text="Test Button"