Checking IDs with Selenium & Python

Question

I am running a selenium test with python. I am having a specific problem with the following bit of html code.

<span class="cke_label" id="cke_8_label">Source</span>

I have tried the following:

self.assert_element_present_by_class('Source button', 'cke_8_label', 'cke_label')**

here's the function:

def assert_element_present_by_class(self, description, id, name):
    sel = self.selenium
    try:
        self.assert_(sel.is_element_present("//" + id + "[contains(@class,'" + name + "')]"))
        logging.info('PASS: "' + description + '" is present')
    except Exception:
        logging.exception('FAIL: "' + description + '" is not present')

This gives me this error.......

File "Template_Designer_P37.py", line 293, in assert_element_present_by_class self.assert_(sel.is_element_present("//" + id + "[contains(@class,'" + name + "')]")) File "C:\Python27\lib\unittest\case.py", line 420, in assertTrue raise self.failureException(msg) AssertionError: False is not true

I have tried a couple of other methods, such as simply trying to assert that the id exists.

My hunch is that the problem surrounds the 'id'.

Any thoughts?

Try this: self.assert_(self.sel.is_element_present("//*[@id='" + id + "' and contains(@class,'" + name + "')]")) — Zeinab Abbasimazar
– Zeinab Abbasimazar, Commented Nov 7, 2013 at 23:21

Aleh Douhi · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-25 10:33:59Z

2

You try to use incorrect xpath and insert id instead of tag name. So correct version will be

self.assert_(sel.is_element_present("//*[@id='" + id + "' and contains(@class,'" + name + "')]"))

answered Apr 25, 2012 at 10:33

Aleh Douhi

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1 Comment

Zeinab Abbasimazar Over a year ago

I think self.sel would do the task.

Subhanshu Singh · Accepted Answer · 2025-09-19 02:39:45Z

The issue is with how you’re building your XPath.

In your code:

"//" + id + "[contains(@class,'" + name + "')]"

If id = "cke_8_label"This produces:

//cke_8_label[contains(@class,'cke_label')]

That XPath is invalid, because cke_8_label is not an HTML tag name. It’s an attribute value.

Correct XPath

You want to locate an element by its id and class. The right XPath is:

//*[@id='cke_8_label' and contains(@class,'cke_label')]

Fixed Function

def assert_element_present_by_class(self, description, id, name):
    sel = self.selenium
    try:
        xpath = f"//*[@id='{id}' and contains(@class,'{name}')]"
        self.assert_(sel.is_element_present(xpath))
        logging.info(f'PASS: "{description}" is present')
    except Exception:
        logging.exception(f'FAIL: "{description}" is not present')

Even simpler

Since IDs are unique, you can just check by id:

xpath = f"//*[@id='{id}']"

Or with a CSS selector (cleaner than XPath):

css = f"#{id}.cke_label"
self.assert_(sel.is_element_present(css))

Summary: Your hunch was right — the problem was with the way the id was concatenated into the XPath. Use @id='value', not //id.

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Checking IDs with Selenium & Python

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Correct XPath

Even simpler

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Correct XPath

Even simpler

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