Selenium: `get_attribute('innerHTML')` vs. `.text` – When Should I Use Which?

Comparing get_attribute("innerHTML") and .text in Selenium

When working with the Selenium framework, you may encounter situations where you need to retrieve the text or innerHTML of an element. While both methods can provide similar results, there are fundamental differences to consider.

get_attribute("innerHTML")

get_attribute("innerHTML") retrieves the innerHTML of an element. InnerHTML includes the content of the element, including its child elements. This method will first attempt to return the value of a property with the given name. If the property does not exist, it returns the value of the attribute with the same name.

# Example
my_text = target_element.get_attribute("innerHTML")

.text

.text retrieves the text content of an element. This method ignores any HTML tags or child elements and returns only the visible text.

# Example
my_text = target_element.text

Attributes and Properties

To understand the distinction between get_attribute("innerHTML") and .text, it's important to note the difference between attributes and properties in HTML and its DOM representation.

Attributes are defined in HTML tags and provide additional information about the element, such as its id, class, or style. Properties, on the other hand, are dynamic and reflect the current state of the element.

When the browser parses HTML, it creates DOM objects for elements. Standard HTML attributes are automatically converted into DOM properties. However, non-standard attributes remain accessible only through the getAttribute() method.

Use Cases

Consider the following scenarios:

• If you need to retrieve the complete HTML content, including tags and nested elements, use get_attribute("innerHTML").
• If you only need the visible text, use .text.

Example

Suppose you have the following HTML:

Using get_attribute("innerHTML") on the body element would return:

Whereas, using .text on the body element would return:

Welcome to Selenium! Written by John Doe

In this case, if your goal is to extract the complete HTML structure, get_attribute("innerHTML") would be appropriate. If you only need the displayed text, .text would suffice.

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