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playwright/docs/src/locators.md
Dmitry Gozman 57cde6e671
docs: fix locators guide (#17781) 
Tabs, as in python sync vs async, cannot be placed inside a list item -
docasaurus doesn't like that.

Reverting "lists" section to fix it.
2022-10-03 12:24:26 -07:00

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locators Locators

[Locator]s are the central piece of Playwright's auto-waiting and retry-ability. In a nutshell, locators represent a way to find element(s) on the page at any moment. Locator can be created with the [method: Page.locator] method.

const locator = page.locator('text=Submit');
await locator.click();

Locator locator = page.locator("text=Submit");
locator.click();

locator = page.locator("text=Submit")
await locator.click()

locator = page.locator("text=Submit")
locator.click()

var locator = page.Locator("text=Submit");
await locator.ClickAsync();

Every time locator is used for some action, up-to-date DOM element is located in the page. So in the snippet below, underlying DOM element is going to be located twice, prior to every action. This means that if the DOM changes in between the calls due to re-render, the new element corresponding to the locator will be used.

const locator = page.locator('text=Submit');
// ...
await locator.hover();
await locator.click();

Locator locator = page.locator("text=Submit");
locator.hover();
locator.click();

locator = page.locator("text=Submit")
await locator.hover()
await locator.click()

locator = page.locator("text=Submit")
locator.hover()
locator.click()

var locator = page.Locator("text=Submit");
await locator.HoverAsync();
await locator.ClickAsync();

Strictness

Locators are strict. This means that all operations on locators that imply some target DOM element will throw an exception if more than one element matches given selector.

// Throws if there are several buttons in DOM:
await page.locator('button').click();

// Works because we explicitly tell locator to pick the first element:
await page.locator('button').first().click(); // ⚠️ using first disables strictness

// Works because count knows what to do with multiple matches:
await page.locator('button').count();

# Throws if there are several buttons in DOM:
await page.locator('button').click()

# Works because we explicitly tell locator to pick the first element:
await page.locator('button').first.click() # ⚠️ using first disables strictness

# Works because count knows what to do with multiple matches:
await page.locator('button').count()

# Throws if there are several buttons in DOM:
page.locator('button').click()

# Works because we explicitly tell locator to pick the first element:
page.locator('button').first.click() # ⚠️ using first disables strictness

# Works because count knows what to do with multiple matches:
page.locator('button').count()

// Throws if there are several buttons in DOM:
page.locator("button").click();

// Works because we explicitly tell locator to pick the first element:
page.locator("button").first().click(); // ⚠️ using first disables strictness

// Works because count knows what to do with multiple matches:
page.locator("button").count();

// Throws if there are several buttons in DOM:
await page.Locator("button").ClickAsync();

// Works because we explicitly tell locator to pick the first element:
await page.Locator("button").First.ClickAsync(); // ⚠️ using First disables strictness

// Works because Count knows what to do with multiple matches:
await page.Locator("button").CountAsync();

:::caution Using [method: Locator.first], [method: Locator.last], and [method: Locator.nth] is discouraged since it disables the concept of strictness, and as your page changes, Playwright may click on an element you did not intend. It's better to make your locator more specific. :::

Locating elements

Use [method: Page.locator] method to create a locator. This method takes a selector that describes how to find an element in the page. The choice of selectors determines the resiliency of the test when the underlying web page changes. To reduce the maintenance burden, we recommend prioritizing user-facing attributes and explicit contracts.

Locate by text content using text=

The easiest way to find an element is to look for the text it contains.

await page.locator('text=Log in').click();

page.locator("text=Log in").click();

await page.locator("text=Log in").click()

page.locator("text=Log in").click()

await page.Locator("text=Log in").ClickAsync();

You can also filter by text when locating in some other way, for example find a particular item in the list.

await page.locator('data-test-id=product-item', { hasText: 'Playwright Book' }).click();

page.locator("data-test-id=product-item", new Page.LocatorOptions().setHasText("Playwright Book")).click();

await page.locator("data-test-id=product-item", has_text="Playwright Book").click()

page.locator("data-test-id=product-item", has_text="Playwright Book").click()

await page.Locator("data-test-id=product-item", new() { HasText = "Playwright Book" }).ClickAsync();

Learn more about the text selector.

Locate based on accessible attributes using role=

The role selector reflects how users and assistive technology percieve the page, for example whether some element is a button or a checkbox. When locating by role, you should usually pass the accessible name as well, so that locator pinpoints the exact element.

await page.locator('role=button[name=/submit/i]').click();

await page.locator('role=checkbox[checked][name="Check me"]').check();

await page.locator('role=button[name=/submit/i]').click()

await page.locator('role=checkbox[checked][name="Check me"]').check()

page.locator('role=button[name=/submit/i]').click()

page.locator('role=checkbox[checked][name="Check me"]').check()

page.locator("role=button[name=/submit/i]").click();

page.locator("role=checkbox[checked][name=\"Check me\"]").check();

await page.Locator("role=button[name=/submit/i]").ClickAsync();

await page.Locator("role=checkbox[checked][name=\"Check me\"]").CheckAsync();

Learn more about the role selector.

Define explicit contract and use data-test-id=

User-facing attributes like text or accessible name can change frequently. In this case it is convenient to define explicit test ids, for example with a data-test-id attribute. Playwright has dedicated support for id, data-test-id, data-test and data-testid attributes.

<button data-test-id="directions">Itinéraire</button>

await page.locator('data-test-id=directions').click();

page.locator("data-test-id=directions").click();

await page.locator('data-test-id=directions').click()

page.locator('data-test-id=directions').click()

await page.Locator("data-test-id=directions").ClickAsync();

Locate by label text

Most form controls usually have dedicated labels that could be conveniently used to interact with the form. Input actions in Playwright automatically distinguish between labels and controls, so you can just locate the label to perform an action on the associated control.

For example, consider the following DOM structure.

<label for="password">Password:</label><input type="password">

You can target the label with something like text=Password and perform the following actions on the password input:

  • click will click the label and automatically focus the input field;
  • fill will fill the input field;
  • inputValue will return the value of the input field;
  • selectText will select text in the input field;
  • setInputFiles will set files for the input field with type=file;
  • selectOption will select an option from the select box.

For example, to fill the input by targeting the label:

await page.locator('text=Password').fill('secret');

page.locator("text=Password").fill("secret");

await page.locator('text=Password').fill('secret')

page.locator('text=Password').fill('secret')

await page.Locator("text=Password").FillAsync("secret");

However, other methods will target the label itself, for example textContent will return the text content of the label, not the input field.

Locate in a subtree

You can chain [method: Page.locator] and [method: Locator.locator] calls to narrow down the search to a particular part of the page.

For example, consider the following DOM structure:

<div data-test-id='product-card'>
  <span>Product 1</span>
  <button>Buy</button>
</div>
<div data-test-id='product-card'>
  <span>Product 2</span>
  <button>Buy</button>
</div>

For example, we can first find a product card that contains text "Product 2", and then click the button in this specific product card.

const product = page.locator('data-test-id=product-card', { hasText: 'Product 2' });

await product.locator('text=Buy').click();

product = page.locator("data-test-id=product-card", has_text="Product 2")

await product.locator("text=Buy").click()

product = page.locator("data-test-id=product-card", has_text="Product 2")

product.locator("text=Buy").click()

Locator product = page.locator("data-test-id=product-card", new Page.LocatorOptions().setHasText("Product 2"));

product.locator("text=Buy").click();

var product = page.Locator("data-test-id=product-card", new() { HasText = "Product 2" });

await product.Locator("text=Buy").clickAsync();

Locate by CSS or XPath selector

Playwright supports CSS and XPath selectors, and auto-detects them if you omit css= or xpath= prefix:

await page.locator('css=button').click();
await page.locator('xpath=//button').click();

await page.locator('button').click();
await page.locator('//button').click();

page.locator("css=button").click();
page.locator("xpath=//button").click();

page.locator("button").click();
page.locator("//button").click();

await page.locator("css=button").click()
await page.locator("xpath=//button").click()

await page.locator("button").click()
await page.locator("//button").click()

page.locator("css=button").click()
page.locator("xpath=//button").click()

page.locator("button").click()
page.locator("//button").click()

await page.Locator('css=button').ClickAsync();
await page.Locator('xpath=//button').ClickAsync();

await page.Locator('button').ClickAsync();
await page.Locator('//button').ClickAsync();

Avoid locators tied to implementation

XPath and CSS selectors can be tied to the DOM structure or implementation. These selectors can break when the DOM structure changes. Similarly, [method: Locator.nth], [method: Locator.first], and [method: Locator.last] are tied to implementation and the structure of the DOM, and will target the incorrect element if the DOM changes.

Long CSS or XPath chains below are an example of a bad practice that leads to unstable tests:

await page.locator('#tsf > div:nth-child(2) > div.A8SBwf > div.RNNXgb > div > div.a4bIc > input').click();

await page.locator('//*[@id="tsf"]/div[2]/div[1]/div[1]/div/div[2]/input').click();

page.locator("#tsf > div:nth-child(2) > div.A8SBwf > div.RNNXgb > div > div.a4bIc > input").click();

page.locator("//*[@id='tsf']/div[2]/div[1]/div[1]/div/div[2]/input").click();

await page.locator("#tsf > div:nth-child(2) > div.A8SBwf > div.RNNXgb > div > div.a4bIc > input").click()

await page.locator("//*[@id="tsf"]/div[2]/div[1]/div[1]/div/div[2]/input").click()

page.locator("#tsf > div:nth-child(2) > div.A8SBwf > div.RNNXgb > div > div.a4bIc > input").click()

page.locator("//*[@id="tsf"]/div[2]/div[1]/div[1]/div/div[2]/input").click()

await page.Locator("#tsf > div:nth-child(2) > div.A8SBwf > div.RNNXgb > div > div.a4bIc > input").ClickAsync();

await page.Locator("//*[@id='tsf']/div[2]/div[1]/div[1]/div/div[2]/input").ClickAsync();

Instead, try to come up with a locator that is close to how user perceives the page or define an explicit testing contract.

Locate elements that contain other elements

Filter by text

Locator can be optionally filtered by text. It will search for a particular string somewhere inside the element, possibly in a descendant element, case-insensitively. You can also pass a regular expression.

await page.locator('button', { hasText: 'Click me' }).click();
await page.locator('button', { hasText: /Click me/ }).click();

page.locator("button", new Page.LocatorOptions().setHasText("Click me")).click();
page.locator("button", new Page.LocatorOptions().setHasText(Pattern.compile("Click me"))).click();

await page.locator("button", has_text="Click me").click()
await page.locator("button", has_text=re.compile("Click me")).click()

page.locator("button", has_text="Click me").click()
page.locator("button", has_text=re.compile("Click me")).click()

await page.Locator("button", new() { HasText = "Click me" }).ClickAsync();
await page.Locator("button", new() { HasText = new Regex("Click me") }).ClickAsync();

Filter by another locator

Locators support an option to only select elements that have a descendant matching another locator.

page.locator('article', { has: page.locator('button.subscribe') })

page.locator("article", new Page.LocatorOptions().setHas(page.locator("button.subscribe")))

page.locator("article", has=page.locator("button.subscribe"))

page.locator("article", has=page.locator("button.subscribe"))

page.Locator("article", new() { Has = page.Locator("button.subscribe") })

Note that inner locator is matched starting from the outer one, not from the document root.

Augment an existing locator

You can filter an existing locator by text or another one, using [method: Locator.filter] method, possibly chaining it multiple times.

const rowLocator = page.locator('tr');
// ...
await rowLocator
    .filter({ hasText: 'text in column 1' })
    .filter({ has: page.locator('button', { hasText: 'column 2 button' }) })
    .screenshot();

Locator rowLocator = page.locator("tr");
// ...
rowLocator
    .filter(new Locator.FilterOptions().setHasText("text in column 1"))
    .filter(new Locator.FilterOptions().setHas(
        page.locator("button", new Page.LocatorOptions().setHasText("column 2 button"))
    ))
    .screenshot();

row_locator = page.locator("tr")
# ...
await row_locator
    .filter(has_text="text in column 1")
    .filter(has=page.locator("tr", has_text="column 2 button"))
    .screenshot()

row_locator = page.locator("tr")
# ...
row_locator
    .filter(has_text="text in column 1")
    .filter(has=page.locator("tr", has_text="column 2 button"))
    .screenshot()

var rowLocator = page.Locator("tr");
// ...
await rowLocator
    .Filter(new LocatorFilterOptions { HasText = "text in column 1" })
    .Filter(new LocatorFilterOptions {
        Has = page.Locator("tr", new PageLocatorOptions { HasText = "column 2 button" } )
    })
    .ScreenshotAsync();

Locate elements in Shadow DOM

All locators in Playwright by default work with elements in Shadow DOM. The exceptions are:

Consider the following example with a custom web component:

<x-badge>
  <span>Title</span>
  #shadow-root
    <span>Details</span>
</x-badge>

You can locate in the same way as if the shadow root was not present at all.

  • Click <span>Details</span>

    await page.locator('text=Details').click();

    page.locator("text=Details").click();

    await page.locator("text=Details").click()

    page.locator("text=Details").click()

    await page.Locator("text=Details").ClickAsync();

  • Click <x-badge>

    await page.locator('x-badge', { hasText: 'Details' }).click();

    page.locator("x-badge", new Page.LocatorOptions().setHasText("Details")).click();

    await page.locator("x-badge", has_text="Details" ).click()

    page.locator("x-badge", has_text="Details" ).click()

    await page.Locator("x-badge", new() { HasText = "Details" }).ClickAsync();

  • Ensure that <x-badge> contains text "Details"

    await expect(page.locator('x-badge')).toContainText('Details');

    assertThat(page.locator("x-badge")).containsText("Details");

    await expect(page.locator("x-badge")).to_contain_text("Details")

    expect(page.locator("x-badge")).to_contain_text("Details")

    await Expect(page.Locator("x-badge")).ToContainTextAsync("Details");

Lists

You can also use locators to work with the element lists.

// Locate elements, this locator points to a list.
const rows = page.locator('table tr');

// Pattern 1: use locator methods to calculate text on the whole list.
const texts = await rows.allTextContents();

// Pattern 2: do something with each element in the list.
const count = await rows.count()
for (let i = 0; i < count; ++i)
  console.log(await rows.nth(i).textContent());

// Pattern 3: resolve locator to elements on page and map them to their text content.
// Note: the code inside evaluateAll runs in page, you can call any DOM apis there.
const texts = await rows.evaluateAll(list => list.map(element => element.textContent));

# Locate elements, this locator points to a list.
rows = page.locator("table tr")

# Pattern 1: use locator methods to calculate text on the whole list.
texts = await rows.all_text_contents()

# Pattern 2: do something with each element in the list.
count = await rows.count()
for i in range(count):
  print(await rows.nth(i).text_content())

# Pattern 3: resolve locator to elements on page and map them to their text content.
# Note: the code inside evaluateAll runs in page, you can call any DOM apis there.
texts = await rows.evaluate_all("list => list.map(element => element.textContent)")

# Locate elements, this locator points to a list.
rows = page.locator("table tr")

# Pattern 1: use locator methods to calculate text on the whole list.
texts = rows.all_text_contents()

# Pattern 2: do something with each element in the list.
count = rows.count()
for i in range(count):
  print(rows.nth(i).text_content())

# Pattern 3: resolve locator to elements on page and map them to their text content.
# Note: the code inside evaluateAll runs in page, you can call any DOM apis there.
texts = rows.evaluate_all("list => list.map(element => element.textContent)")

// Locate elements, this locator points to a list.
Locator rows = page.locator("table tr");

// Pattern 1: use locator methods to calculate text on the whole list.
List<String> texts = rows.allTextContents();

// Pattern 2: do something with each element in the list.
int count = rows.count()
for (int i = 0; i < count; ++i)
  System.out.println(rows.nth(i).textContent());

// Pattern 3: resolve locator to elements on page and map them to their text content.
// Note: the code inside evaluateAll runs in page, you can call any DOM apis there.
Object texts = rows.evaluateAll("list => list.map(element => element.textContent)");

// Locate elements, this locator points to a list.
var rows = page.Locator("table tr");

// Pattern 1: use locator methods to calculate text on the whole list.
var texts = await rows.AllTextContentsAsync();

// Pattern 2: do something with each element in the list:
var count = await rows.CountAsync()
for (let i = 0; i < count; ++i)
  Console.WriteLine(await rows.Nth(i).TextContentAsync());

// Pattern 3: resolve locator to elements on page and map them to their text content
// Note: the code inside evaluateAll runs in page, you can call any DOM apis there
var texts = await rows.EvaluateAllAsync("list => list.map(element => element.textContent)");

Picking specific element from a list

If you have a list of identical elements, and the only way to distinguish between them is the order, you can choose a specific element from a list with [method: Locator.first], [method: Locator.last] or [method: Locator.nth].

However, use these methods with caution. Often times, the page might change, and locator will point to a completely different element from the one you expected. Instead, try to come up with a unique locator that will pass the strictness criteria.

For example, to click the third item in the list of products:

await page.locator('data-test-id=product-card').nth(3).click();

page.locator("data-test-id=product-card").nth(3).click();

await page.locator("data-test-id=product-card").nth(3).click()

page.locator("data-test-id=product-card").nth(3).click()

await page.Locator("data-test-id=product-card").Nth(3).ClickAsync();

Locator vs ElementHandle

:::caution We only recommend using [ElementHandle] in the rare cases when you need to perform extensive DOM traversal on a static page. For all user actions and assertions use locator instead. :::

The difference between the [Locator] and [ElementHandle] is that the latter points to a particular element, while Locator captures the logic of how to retrieve that element.

In the example below, handle points to a particular DOM element on page. If that element changes text or is used by React to render an entirely different component, handle is still pointing to that very stale DOM element. This can lead to unexpected behaviors.

const handle = await page.$('text=Submit');
// ...
await handle.hover();
await handle.click();

ElementHandle handle = page.querySelector("text=Submit");
handle.hover();
handle.click();

handle = await page.query_selector("text=Submit")
await handle.hover()
await handle.click()

handle = page.query_selector("text=Submit")
handle.hover()
handle.click()

var handle = await page.QuerySelectorAsync("text=Submit");
await handle.HoverAsync();
await handle.ClickAsync();

With the locator, every time the locator is used, up-to-date DOM element is located in the page using the selector. So in the snippet below, underlying DOM element is going to be located twice.

const locator = page.locator('text=Submit');
// ...
await locator.hover();
await locator.click();

Locator locator = page.locator("text=Submit");
locator.hover();
locator.click();

locator = page.locator("text=Submit")
await locator.hover()
await locator.click()

locator = page.locator("text=Submit")
locator.hover()
locator.click()

var locator = page.Locator("text=Submit");
await locator.HoverAsync();
await locator.ClickAsync();