AttributeError: 'WebElement' object has no attribute 'get_text' error extracting the text between the starting and ending tag using Selenium Python

Question

Input:

<input type="text" name="username" value="TestLeaf" align="left" style="width:350px" xpath="1">
    <div>**TestLeaf**</div>
</input>

Code in Selenium Python:

textGet = driver.find_element_by_xpath("//input[@name='username' and @value='TestLeaf']").get_text
print(textGet)

Result: Shows the error

"AttributeError: 'WebElement' object has no attribute 'get_text'"

Please assist me that how to get the text in between the starting and ending tag

Answer 1

To get the text simply do the following.

textGet = driver.find_element_by_xpath("//input[@name='username' and @value='TestLeaf']").text

.get_text is not the valid way to do so.

Answer 2

This error message...

"AttributeError: 'WebElement' object has no attribute 'get_text'"

...implies that in your program you have invoked the get_text attribute, which is not a valid WebElement attribute. Instead you need to use the text attribute.

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Solution

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

• Using xpath and get_attribute():

  print(driver.find_element_by_xpath("//input[@name='username' and @value='TestLeaf']/div").get_attribute("innerHTML"))
  

• Using xpath and text attribute:

  print(driver.find_element_by_xpath("//input[@name='username' and @value='TestLeaf']/div").text)
  

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Ideally, to print the text you have to induce WebDriverWait for the visibility_of_element_located() and you can use either of the following Locator Strategies:

• Using xpath and get_attribute():

  print(WebDriverWait(driver, 20).until(EC.visibility_of_element_located((By.XPATH, "/input[@name='username' and @value='TestLeaf']/div"))).get_attribute("innerHTML"))
  

• Using xpath and text attribute:

  print(WebDriverWait(driver, 20).until(EC.visibility_of_element_located((By.XPATH, "//input[@name='username' and @value='TestLeaf']/div"))).text)
  

• 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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Outro

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