Verifying Text on a Web Page with Selenium Python

When automating web applications with Selenium in Python, one of the most common tasks is verifying text on a web page. Whether you're confirming a login success message, checking product titles, or validating form errors, verifying text ensures your application behaves as expected.

In this blog, we’ll explore different ways to verify text using Selenium with Python, along with practical examples and tips for making your test scripts more reliable.

🧰 Prerequisites

• Before diving in, ensure you have the following installed:
• Python 3.x
• Selenium
• WebDriver for your browser (e.g., ChromeDriver)

Install Selenium using pip:

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pip install selenium

🔍 Why Text Verification Matters

Text verification is essential for:

Validating UI behavior: Checking messages, labels, or dynamic content.

Test pass/fail logic: Determining whether a test should succeed or fail.

Ensuring correct user experience: Making sure users see the right information.

✅ Basic Example: Verifying Static Text

Let’s start with a basic example where we verify a welcome message on a login page.

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from selenium import webdriver

from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By

driver = webdriver.Chrome()

driver.get("https://example.com/login")

# Perform login steps here...

# Locate the text element

welcome_text = driver.find_element(By.ID, "welcome-msg").text

# Verify the expected text

assert welcome_text == "Welcome, John!", "Text does not match!"

driver.quit()

Here, we:

Open a browser with webdriver.Chrome()

Locate the element using By.ID

Extract the visible text using .text

Use an assert statement to verify it matches the expected value

🔄 Verifying Partial or Dynamic Text

Sometimes, the text may contain dynamic parts (like usernames or timestamps). You can use Python's in keyword:

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message = driver.find_element(By.CLASS_NAME, "alert").text

assert "Login successful" in message, "Login message not found!"

This checks if a particular substring exists within the text.

⏳ Using Waits for Dynamic Content

If the text appears after a delay, use WebDriverWait to avoid race conditions:

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from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import WebDriverWait

from selenium.webdriver.support import expected_conditions as EC

wait = WebDriverWait(driver, 10)

element = wait.until(EC.visibility_of_element_located((By.ID, "status-msg")))

assert "Completed" in element.text

This waits up to 10 seconds for the element to be visible before verifying its text.

📋 Tips for Reliable Text Verification

Trim whitespace:

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text = element.text.strip()

Be case-insensitive:

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assert "success" in text.lower()

Avoid brittle locators: Use stable attributes like data-testid, id, or name.

Handle special characters: Normalize text using .strip() or .replace() if needed.

🧪 Common Use Cases

Error validation:

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error = driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, ".error-msg").text

assert error == "Invalid email address."

Table data verification:

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cell_text = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "//table/tbody/tr[1]/td[2]").text

assert cell_text == "Pending"

Alert message check:

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alert = driver.switch_to.alert.text

assert "Are you sure?" in alert

✅ Conclusion

Verifying text with Selenium in Python is a fundamental part of web UI testing. By using the right locating strategies, smart assertions, and proper wait conditions, you can write test scripts that are both robust and effective.

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