How to get text with Selenium WebDriver in Python

You want just .text.

You can then verify it after you've got it, don't attempt to pass in what you expect it should have.

Python

element.text

Java

element.getText()

C#

element.Text

Ruby*

element.text

To print the text my text you can use either of the following Locator Strategies:

• Using class_name and get_attribute("textContent"):

  print(driver.find_element(By.CLASS_NAME, "current-stage").get_attribute("textContent"))
  

• Using css_selector and get_attribute("innerHTML"):

  print(driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "span.current-stage").get_attribute("innerHTML"))
  

• Using xpath and text attribute:

  print(driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "//span[@class='current-stage']").text)
  

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Ideally you need to induce WebDriverWait for the visibility_of_element_located() and you can use either of the following Locator Strategies:

• Using CLASS_NAME and get_attribute("textContent"):

  print(WebDriverWait(driver, 20).until(EC.visibility_of_element_located((By.CLASS_NAME, "current-stage"))).get_attribute("textContent"))
  

• Using CSS_SELECTOR and text attribute:

  print(WebDriverWait(driver, 20).until(EC.visibility_of_element_located((By.CSS_SELECTOR, "span.current-stage"))).text)
  

• Using XPATH and get_attribute("innerHTML"):

  print(WebDriverWait(driver, 20).until(EC.visibility_of_element_located((By.XPATH, "//span[@class='current-stage']"))).get_attribute("innerHTML"))
  

• Note : You have to add the following imports :

  from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import WebDriverWait
  from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
  from selenium.webdriver.support import expected_conditions as EC
  

You can find a relevant discussion in How to retrieve the text of a WebElement using Selenium - Python

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References

Link to useful documentation:

• get_attribute() method Gets the given attribute or property of the element.
• text attribute returns The text of the element.
• Difference between text and innerHTML using Selenium