Using getText() method in Selenium WebDriver -

Interface WebElement contains a method “getText()” whose return type is a String. If you refer official document of Selenium then you can find a clear crystal sentence stating what this method does :-

Get the visible (i.e. not hidden by CSS) innerText of this element, including sub-elements.

I did not understand the terms such as “not hidden by CSS“, “innerText“, “including sub-elements“.

Let’s forget getText() method for some time and research more on words quoted above.

Table of Contents

What is innerText?

<p>This is a paragrah</p>
<button>Logout</button>
<span>Hello Amod</span>

<p>This is a paragrah</p>

<button>Logout</button>

<span>Hello Amod</span>

Observe the rendered text between opening and closing nodes above. For example – “This is a paragraph” between opening node <p> and closing node </p> is an innerText. Similarly “Logout” and “Hello Amod” are innerTexts of button and span respectively.

<p>
   <button>Sign In</button>
   <button>Sign Up</button>
</p>

<p>

</p>

In above example, “Sign In” is innerText of first “button” node while “Sign Up” is the innerText for second “button” and “Sign In Sign Up” is innerText of “p” node.

Now read the definition of getText() method again or observe bold text in below paragraph.

Get the visible (i.e. not hidden by CSS) innerText of this element, including sub-elements.

Is it making sense? Inner text of a node combines rendered text of all its children node as it appears. If I say that give me innerText of node first “button” then it will see there is no child node and returns only “Sign In”. Same case for second button tag. But if I ask you to give innerText of node “p” then it will see that “p” node has two children node and it will combine text from both nodes and return i.e. “Sign In Sign Up”.

<p>
   <button>Sign In</button>
   <button>Sign Up</button>
   This is a sample paragraph
</p>

<p>

This is a sample paragraph

</p>

What will be innerText for each node above? It will be :-

button - Sign In 
button - Sign Up
p - Sign in Sign Up This is a sample paragraph

button - Sign In

button - Sign Up

p - Sign in Sign Up This is a sample paragraph

innerText of node p will be innerText of first button node + innerText of second button node + rendered text of node p.

Let’s not believe on my words. Let’s do some practicals.

Let’s create above shown html with ids as below:-

<p id="p1">
   <button id="btn1">Sign In</button>
   <button id="btn2">Sign Up</button>
   This is a sample paragraph
</p>

This is a sample paragraph

</p>

Now learn a new thing that “innerText” is a property of html element. That is the reason I used exactly “innerText” everywhere above and same in getText() description by Selenium WebDriver developer. So the innerText is the property of the HTMLElement interface represents the “rendered” text content of a node and its descendants.

Now write simple Javascript commands in Chrome console and observe output and find that whatever I said is correct.

We just learnt that innerText of node is combined rendered text of all children nodes. But there is a twist. It ignores rendered text of <script> and <style> tags. It also ignores the text hidden by CSS. Let’s see an example below :-

<p id="p1">
   There is a paragraph
   <style>#source { color: red; }</style>
   after style tag
   <script>Some script path</script>
   after script tag
   <span style="display:none">HIDDEN TEXT</span>
   afte hidden
</p>

There is a paragraph

after style tag

after script tag

<span style="display:none">HIDDEN TEXT</span>

afte hidden

</p>

In above example there are <style> and <script> tags and also a span tag which is hidden using “display:none”. innerText will skip style and script tags and also span tag as it is hidden.

Hopefully you understand the term “not hidden by CSS” in description of getText().

Let’s write some Selenium codes :-

package BasicSeleniumConcepts;

import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import org.testng.annotations.Test;

import io.github.bonigarcia.wdm.WebDriverManager;

public class getTextExamples {

	@Test
	public void exampleInnerText1()
	{
		WebDriverManager.chromedriver().setup();
		WebDriver driver= new ChromeDriver();
		String fileURL = System.getProperty("user.dir");
		driver.get(fileURL + "/src/test/resources/htmlFiles/innerText.html");
		
		System.out.println("Output of Node Button 1 = " + driver.findElement(By.id("btn1")).getText());
		System.out.println("Output of Node Button 2 = " + driver.findElement(By.id("btn2")).getText());
		System.out.println("Output of Node P = " + driver.findElement(By.id("p1")).getText());
		
		driver.quit();
		System.out.println("********************************************************************");
	}
	
	@Test
	public void exampleInnerText2()
	{
		WebDriverManager.chromedriver().setup();
		WebDriver driver= new ChromeDriver();
		String fileURL = System.getProperty("user.dir");
		driver.get(fileURL + "/src/test/resources/htmlFiles/innerTextEx2.html");
		
		// Nothing will be returned by style tag as it ignored by getText
		System.out.println("Output of Node Style = " + driver.findElement(By.tagName("style")).getText());
		// Nothing will be returned by script tag as it ignored by getText
		System.out.println("Output of Node Script = " + driver.findElement(By.tagName("script")).getText());
		// Nothing will be returned by span tag as it is hidden
		System.out.println("Output of Span = " + driver.findElement(By.tagName("span")).getText());
		// Combine all rendered text of children nodes
		System.out.println("Output of P = " + driver.findElement(By.id("p1")).getText());
		
		driver.quit();
	}
}

package BasicSeleniumConcepts;

import org.openqa.selenium.By;

import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;

import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;

import org.testng.annotations.Test;

import io.github.bonigarcia.wdm.WebDriverManager;

public class getTextExamples {

@Test

public void exampleInnerText1()

{

WebDriverManager.chromedriver().setup();

WebDriver driver= new ChromeDriver();

String fileURL = System.getProperty("user.dir");

driver.get(fileURL + "/src/test/resources/htmlFiles/innerText.html");

System.out.println("Output of Node Button 1 = " + driver.findElement(By.id("btn1")).getText());

System.out.println("Output of Node Button 2 = " + driver.findElement(By.id("btn2")).getText());

System.out.println("Output of Node P = " + driver.findElement(By.id("p1")).getText());

driver.quit();

System.out.println("********************************************************************");

}

@Test

public void exampleInnerText2()

{

WebDriverManager.chromedriver().setup();

WebDriver driver= new ChromeDriver();

String fileURL = System.getProperty("user.dir");

driver.get(fileURL + "/src/test/resources/htmlFiles/innerTextEx2.html");

// Nothing will be returned by style tag as it ignored by getText

System.out.println("Output of Node Style = " + driver.findElement(By.tagName("style")).getText());

// Nothing will be returned by script tag as it ignored by getText

System.out.println("Output of Node Script = " + driver.findElement(By.tagName("script")).getText());

// Nothing will be returned by span tag as it is hidden

System.out.println("Output of Span = " + driver.findElement(By.tagName("span")).getText());

// Combine all rendered text of children nodes

System.out.println("Output of P = " + driver.findElement(By.id("p1")).getText());

driver.quit();

}

Ouput

Output of Node Button 1 = Sign In
Output of Node Button 2 = Sign Up
Output of Node P = Sign In Sign Up This is a sample paragraph
********************************************************************
Output of Node Style = 
Output of Node Script = 
Output of Span = 
Output of P = There is a paragraph after style tag after script tag after hidden

Output of Node Button 1 = Sign In

Output of Node Button 2 = Sign Up

Output of Node P = Sign In Sign Up This is a sample paragraph

********************************************************************

Output of Node Style =

Output of Node Script =

Output of Span =

Output of P = There is a paragraph after style tag after script tag after hidden

Let’s learn extra.

What getText() method will return for a node which has no innerText?

Answer is an empty string i.e. a string with length Zero.

Sample html code

<p id ="p1"></p>

1	<p id ="p1"></p>

Selenium Code

@Test
	public void exampleInnerText3()
	{
		WebDriverManager.chromedriver().setup();
		WebDriver driver= new ChromeDriver();
		String fileURL = System.getProperty("user.dir");
		driver.get(fileURL + "/src/test/resources/htmlFiles/EmptyAndWhiteSpace.html");
		
		String textReceived = driver.findElement(By.id("p1")).getText();
		System.out.println("Output of Node P = " + textReceived );
		System.out.println("Length of text received for P = "+ textReceived.length());
		driver.quit();
	}

@Test

public void exampleInnerText3()

{

WebDriverManager.chromedriver().setup();

WebDriver driver= new ChromeDriver();

String fileURL = System.getProperty("user.dir");

driver.get(fileURL + "/src/test/resources/htmlFiles/EmptyAndWhiteSpace.html");

String textReceived = driver.findElement(By.id("p1")).getText();

System.out.println("Output of Node P = " + textReceived );

System.out.println("Length of text received for P = "+ textReceived.length());

driver.quit();

}

Output

Output of Node P = 
Length of text received for P = 0

1 2	Output of Node P = Length of text received for P = 0

Will getText() method trim leading , trailing or white spaces in between? Will it give innerText which has multiple lines or <br>?

Answer is as it looks or appears on browser. I will show you an example where white spaces were provided normally and also using &nbsp.

Html Code

<p id ="p1"</p>

<p id = "p2" >
	This is a line break </br>
	statement. There is another line break <br>
	in the statement.
</p>

<p id = "p3" >   This is   a statement with    leading   trailing  and in between spaces    </p>
<p id = "p4" >&nbsp  This is   &nbsp a statement with    leading  &nbsp trailing  and in between non brekable spaces &nbsp   </p>

This is a line break </br>

statement. There is another line break <br>

in the statement.

</p>

<p id = "p3" > This is a statement with leading trailing and in between spaces </p>

<p id = "p4" >&nbsp This is &nbsp a statement with leading &nbsp trailing and in between non brekable spaces &nbsp </p>

On browser it looks like as below. Notice normal white spaces are trimmed by default but non breakable spaces remain as it is.

getText() method will also return in the same way.

@Test
	public void exampleInnerText3()
	{
		WebDriverManager.chromedriver().setup();
		WebDriver driver= new ChromeDriver();
		String fileURL = System.getProperty("user.dir");
		driver.get(fileURL + "/src/test/resources/htmlFiles/EmptyAndWhiteSpace.html");
		
		String textReceived = driver.findElement(By.id("p1")).getText();
		System.out.println("Output of Node P 1 = " + textReceived );
		System.out.println("Length of text received for P 1 = "+ textReceived.length());
		
		System.out.println("Output of Node P 2 = " + driver.findElement(By.id("p2")).getText());
		System.out.println("Output of Node P 3 = " + driver.findElement(By.id("p3")).getText());
		System.out.println("Output of Node P 4 = " + driver.findElement(By.id("p4")).getText());
		driver.quit();
	}

@Test

public void exampleInnerText3()

{

WebDriverManager.chromedriver().setup();

WebDriver driver= new ChromeDriver();

String fileURL = System.getProperty("user.dir");

driver.get(fileURL + "/src/test/resources/htmlFiles/EmptyAndWhiteSpace.html");

String textReceived = driver.findElement(By.id("p1")).getText();

System.out.println("Output of Node P 1 = " + textReceived );

System.out.println("Length of text received for P 1 = "+ textReceived.length());

System.out.println("Output of Node P 2 = " + driver.findElement(By.id("p2")).getText());

System.out.println("Output of Node P 3 = " + driver.findElement(By.id("p3")).getText());

System.out.println("Output of Node P 4 = " + driver.findElement(By.id("p4")).getText());

driver.quit();

}

Output

Output of Node P 1 = 
Length of text received for P 1 = 0
Output of Node P 2 = This is a line break
statement. There is another line break
in the statement.
Output of Node P 3 = This is a statement with leading trailing and in between spaces
Output of Node P 4 =   This is   a statement with leading   trailing and in between non breakable spaces

Output of Node P 1 =

Length of text received for P 1 = 0

Output of Node P 2 = This is a line break

statement. There is another line break

in the statement.

Output of Node P 3 = This is a statement with leading trailing and in between spaces

Output of Node P 4 = This is a statement with leading trailing and in between non breakable spaces

Interview question

Print all language names supported by Google.

package MakeSeleniumEasy;

import java.util.List;

import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;

public class GetTextExample {

	
	public static void main(String[] args) {
		
		System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver","./exefiles/chromedriver.exe");
		WebDriver driver= new ChromeDriver();
		driver.get("https://www.google.co.in/");
		
		List e=driver.findElements(By.xpath("//div[@id='_eEe']/a"));
                System.out.println("Languages supported by Google are:");
		for(WebElement w:e)
			System.out.println(w.getText());
		
		driver.quit();
	}
}

package MakeSeleniumEasy;

import java.util.List;

import org.openqa.selenium.By;

import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;

import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;

import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;

public class GetTextExample {

public static void main(String[] args) {

System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver","./exefiles/chromedriver.exe");

WebDriver driver= new ChromeDriver();

driver.get("https://www.google.co.in/");

List e=driver.findElements(By.xpath("//div[@id='_eEe']/a"));

System.out.println("Languages supported by Google are:");

for(WebElement w:e)

System.out.println(w.getText());

driver.quit();

}

Note: If you run above program directly, You will not get correct fonts. It will print “???”. You need to do setting as Right click on program-> Run configuration-> Common-> Encoding-> Others-> Select UTF-8. Apply and run.

Languages supported by Google are:
हिन्दी
বাংলা
తెలుగు
मराठी
தமிழ்
ગુજરાતી
ಕನ್ನಡ
മലയാളം
ਪੰਜਾਬੀ

Languages supported by Google are:

हिन्दी

বাংলা

తెలుగు

मराठी

தமிழ்

ગુજરાતી

ಕನ್ನಡ

മലയാളം

ਪੰਜਾਬੀ

You can download/clone above sample project from here.

If you have any doubt, feel free to comment below.
If you like my posts, please like, comment, share and subscribe.
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#HappyLearning

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Author: Amod Mahajan

A software Tester who is paid to judge products developed by others. Writing technical posts and creating YouTube videos are my hobbies.

6 thoughts on “Using getText() method in Selenium WebDriver”

kessel says:

October 29, 2018 at 1:34 pm

Thank you

RANJAN V says:

July 23, 2017 at 4:59 pm

Nice…)))

1. Amod Mahajan says:
  
  July 24, 2017 at 9:24 am
  
  Thanks Ranjan.
  
2. mah says:
  
  October 6, 2019 at 11:13 pm
  
  when i enter the getText command, selenium is unable to identify it. please assist me and let me know to workaround this and wether i need to import any additional packages to activate it
  
Sriram Kukkadapu says:

July 19, 2017 at 7:19 am

Thanks bro 🙂

1. Amod Mahajan says:
  
  July 19, 2017 at 8:31 am