Finding WebElement by Xpath Using Regex

Question

I have the following WebElements:

<input id="" type="checkbox" value="/p1/foobar1" name="checkbox1" partition="p1" onclick=""/>
<input id="" type="checkbox" value="/p1/foobar" name="checkbox2" partition="p1" onclick=""/>
<input id="" type="checkbox" value="/p2/foobar2" name="checkbox3" partition="p2" onclick=""/>

And I'm wanting to find the 2nd element in the above source (the one with with a value of /p1/foobar) based on value attribute using regex in an xpath. I have tried the following:

driver.findElement(By.xpath("//input[matches(@value,'.*\\/foobar$')]"));

But it throws an InvalidSelectorException. I've gotten it to work with cssSelector like so ...

driver.findElement(By.cssSelector(input[value$='\\/foobar']));

But I'm still curious how to accomplish this with xpath. Any suggestions?

EDIT: I should also note that I want to be able to find this element without knowing the characters before the last slash (aka /p1/)

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 12:21:49Z

4

Try

//input[@value='/p1/foobar']

If you don't know what it starts with, you have to resort to functions:

//input[contains(@value, 'foobar') and substring-after(@value, 'foobar') = '']

Here is a 'fiddle'

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<result>
<input id="" name="checkbox1" onclick="" partition="p1" type="checkbox" value="/p1/foobar1"/>
<input id="" name="checkbox2" onclick="" partition="p1" type="checkbox" value="/p1/foobar"/>
<input id="" name="checkbox3" onclick="" partition="p2" type="checkbox" value="/p2/foobar2"/>
</result>

http://www.xpathtester.com/xpath/4dc56e27ca1674ea0b5b48357214b907

As noted in Can I use a Regex in an XPath expression?, XPath 1.0 doesn't support regular expressions.

Here are many examples:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms256086(v=vs.110).aspx

Here is a list of XPath functions:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms256180(v=vs.110).aspx

edited May 23, 2017 at 12:21

CommunityBot

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answered May 13, 2015 at 17:39

Chloe

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1 Comment

user2150250 Over a year ago

Thanks for the response but please see my edit. I'm trying to accomplish finding this element without knowledge of the characters before the last slash.

SiKing · Accepted Answer · 2015-05-13 17:50:29Z

0

XPath does not support regex. You will have to resort to other XPath functions, for your example you can use something like:

//input[ends-with(@value,'foobar')]

There is a nice list of XPath functions here.

answered May 13, 2015 at 17:50

SiKing

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2 Comments

Saifur Over a year ago

ends-with is a part of xpath version 2.0. Does Selenium support that?

user2150250 Over a year ago

yeah doesn't seem to be working for me unfortunately.

Saifur · Accepted Answer · 2015-05-13 17:58:31Z

0

Use xpath contains function. Fairly complicated. Probably you do not want to go this route. But this can be done also

//input[contains(@value,'foo') and (not(contains(@value,'foobar1'))) and (not(contains(@value,'foobar2')))]

*Keep the complexity in mind, I think the CssSelector is the best fit for this scenario.

edited May 13, 2015 at 17:58

answered May 13, 2015 at 17:38

Saifur

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4 Comments

Chloe Over a year ago

That won't work because the other element attributes also contain foobar.

user2150250 Over a year ago

Chloe is correct. This will find the first webelement since it also contains foobar, not the second.

user2150250 Over a year ago

@Saifur I'm really trying to use matches and regex to accomplish this webelement find. It should not depend on knowledge of all the other source.

Saifur Over a year ago

@user2150250 I am afraid as per my knowledge Selenium only supports xpath version 1 which does not support extensive regex search

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