How to use XPath contains() for specific text?

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Be careful of the contains() function.

It is a common mistake to use it to test if an element contains a value. What it really does is test if a string contains a substring. So, td[contains(.,'8')] takes the string value of td (.) and tests if it contains any '8' substrings. This might be what you want, but often it is not.

This XPath,

//td[.='8']

will select all td elements whose string-value equals 8.

Alternatively, this XPath,

//td[normalize-space()='8']

will select all td elements whose normalize-space() string-value equals 8. (The normalize-space() XPath function strips leading and trailing whitespace and replaces sequences of whitespace characters with a single space.)

Notes:

  • Both will work even if the 8 is inside of another element such as a
    a, b, span, div, etc.
  • Both will not match <td>gr8t</td>, <td>123456789</td>, etc.
  • Using normalize-space() will ignore leading or trailing whitespace
    surrounding the 8.

See also:

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