yet another xpath generator

Create an xpath with an chainable and intuitive API.

Quickstart

Create the most simple xpath for a div element:

from yaxp import xpath

# //div
xpath.div

xpath objects are chainable:

# //div//h1
xpath.div.h1

Any keyword argument you pass will add a filter for an attribute with the name and value of the keyword:

# //div[@role="cell"]
xpath.div(role="cell")

Alternatively, use the by() method to specify attributes:

# //*[@class="main"]
xpath.by(_class="main")

An _ at the beginning of the attribute name will be removed, this is helpful for attributes that represents python keywords like "class" or "id":

# //div[@class="cell"][@id="myid"]
xpath.div(_class="cell", _id="myid")

If the value of an attribute starts with an asteric (*), the xpath matches any element that has the following text as a substring in this attribute

# //div[contains(@class, 'mycl')]
xpath.div(_class="*mycl")               

Alternatively, you can use the contains() function to filter for subtrings. the following statement is equal to the above:

# //div[contains(@class, 'mycl')]
xpath.div.contains(_class="mycl")

xpath supports "nested predicates", i.e. you can filter for specific sub-elements, while the xpath itself will point to the parent element (div in this example):

# //div[./span[@class='mycl']]
xpath.div.has(xpath.span(_class="mycl"))

Nested predicates are chainable:

# //div[./span[@class='mycl'][./p[text()="hello"]]]
xpath.div.has(xpath.span(_class="mycl")).has(xpath.p(text="hello"))

As you can see in the example above, a text attribute will be converted to "text()". In order to avoid this, use "_":

# //p[@text="hello"]]]
xpath.p(_text="hello"))

An "_" attrbute will be converted to ".":

# //p[contains(., "world")]
xpath.p(_="*world")

If the value of an attribute starts with a hashtag (#), the xpath matches any element that has the following text as a full word in this attribute:

# //div[contains(concat(' ', normalize-space(@class), ' '), ' myclass ')]
xpath.div(_class="#myclass")

Any combination of the features are allowed:

# //span[contains(@class, "mycl")][@placeholder="huhu"]
xpath.span(_class="*mycl", _placeholder='huhu')

An _ in the role will be converted to a ".":

# //Android.Container[@id="huhu"]
xp.Android_Container(_id="huhu")

Use double __ if you need an _:

# //Android_Container[@id="huhu"]
xp.Android__Container(_id="huhu")

Further reading

• The xpath cheat sheet