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I want to use Wildcards in my attributes. For example, this is my regular XPath: 

//input[@id='activation:j_idt84:voId:1']`

I want to replace the j_idt number with a wildcard because the number is dynamic. I'm looking for something like this:

//input[@id='activation:*:voId:1']

I don't know how to solve that issue. Is my idea even possible?

Cache Staheli
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Ed H
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2 Answers2

37

Unfortunately there's no string wildcards in XPath. However you can use multiple contains() and starts-with() to filter things like this.

//input[starts-with(@id, 'activation:') and contains(@id, ':voId:1')]

Also, this answer could be useful too: selenium: Is it possible to use the regexp in selenium locators

Community
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complex857
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4

You can use string wildcards using the matches function which is available in XPath 2.0:

//input[matches(@id, 'activation:.*:voId:1')]
Sicco
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  • This way doesn't work in my code. The solution of complex857 works. But thanks a lot! – Ed H Sep 20 '12 at 05:58
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    Selenium [delegates xpath to the underlying browser](http://code.google.com/p/selenium/issues/detail?id=3009) so once browsers implement them it should start working. – complex857 Sep 20 '12 at 06:14