This comprehensive Selenium Cheat Sheet for Python is designed to assist both beginners and experienced developers. It simplifies working with Selenium WebDriver, offering practical and concise solutions for key topics like setup, browser automation, and advanced commands.

Whether your goal is to automate browser tasks or scale tests across diverse environments, this guide delivers ready-to-use Python code snippets and actionable insights to streamline your test automation workflows efficiently.

Read our Selenium with Java Cheat Sheet: Selenium with Java Cheat Sheet.

Selenium Cheat Sheet with Python

Setup

Install Selenium 
pip install selenium

WebDriver Setup

Chrome 
webdriver.Chrome(executable_path="path/to/chromedriver")
Firefox 
webdriver.Firefox(executable_path="path/to/geckodriver")
Microsoft Edge 
webdriver.Safari(executable_path="path/to/safaridriver")
Safari (Only Mac) 
webdriver.Edge(executable_path="path/to/msedgedriver")

PyTest

Install Pytest 
pip install pytest
Basic Test 
import pytest
def test_example():
  assert 1 + 1 == 2
Run Tests 
pytest test_file.py
Run Specific Test 
pytest -k "test_name"
Run Tests in a Directory 
pytest tests/
Markers 
@pytest.mark.smoke
def test_smoke_case():
  assert True
Run Specific Marker 
pytest -m smoke

Unittest

Import Unittest 
import unittest
Create a Test Case 
class TestExample(unittest.TestCase):
  def test_addition(self):
    self.assertEqual(1 + 1, 2)
Run Tests 
python -m unittest test_file.py
Setup and Teardown 
class TestExample(unittest.TestCase):
  def setUp(self):
    # Setup code pass
    
  def tearDown(self):
    # Teardown code pass
Run All Tests in a Directory 
python -m unittest discover tests/
Assert Methods 
assertEqual(a, b)
assertNotEqual(a, b)
assertTrue(x)
assertFalse(x)
assertIs(a, b)
assertIsNot(a, b)

Locators

By ID 
driver.find_element(By.ID, "id_value")
By Name 
driver.find_element(By.NAME, "name_value")
By Class Name 
driver.find_element(By.CLASS_NAME, "class_value")
By Tag Name 
driver.find_element(By.TAG_NAME, "tag_value")
By Link Text 
driver.find_element(By.LINK_TEXT, "link_text_value")
By Partial Link Text 
driver.find_element(By.PARTIAL_LINK_TEXT, "partial_link")
By CSS Selector 
driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "css_selector")
By XPath 
driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "xpath_value")

Interactions

Click an Element 
button = driver.find_element(By.ID, "button_id")
button.click()
Input Text 
element = driver.find_element(By.ID, "input_id") element.send_keys("Your text")
Clear Text 
element.clear()
Submit a Form 
form = driver.find_element(By.ID, "form_id")
form.submit()

Waits

Implicit Wait 
driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(Duration.ofSeconds(10));
Explicit Wait 
WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(10));
  WebElement element = wait.until(ExpectedConditions.visibilityOfElementLocated(By.id("elementId")));

Handling Alerts

Switch to Alert 
alert = driver.switch_to.alert
Accept Alert 
alert.accept()
Dismiss Alert 
alert.dismiss();
Get Alert Text 
alert_text = alert.text
print(alert_text)

Handling Frames

Switch to a Frame 
driver.switch_to.frame("frame_name_or_id")
Switch to a Frame by Name or ID 
driver.switch_to.frame("frame_name_or_id")
Switch to a Frame by Index 
driver.switch_to.frame(0)
Switch to a Frame using a WebElement 
frame_element = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "//iframe[@id='frame_id']")
driver.switch_to.frame(frame_element)
Switch to Parent Frame 
driver.switch_to.parent_frame()
Switch to Default Content 
driver.switch_to.default_content()

Handling Dropdowns

Select by Visible Text 
dropdown = Select(driver.find_element(By.ID, "dropdown_id")) dropdown.select_by_visible_text("Option Text")
Select by Index 
dropdown.select_by_index(2)
Select by Value 
dropdown.select_by_value("option_value")

Browser Navigation

Navigate to URL 
driver.get("https://example.com")
Back 
driver.back()
Forward 
driver.forward()
Refresh Page 
driver.refresh()
Close Current Window 
driver.close()
Quit Entire Session 
driver.quit()

Browser Window Management

Get the Current Window Handle 
current_window = driver.current_window_handle
Get All Window Handles 
all_windows = driver.window_handles
Switch to a Specific Window 
driver.switch_to.window(window_handle)
Switch to the Newly Created Window 
driver.switch_to.window(driver.window_handles[-1])
Fullscreen Window 
driver.fullscreen_window()
Minimize Window 
driver.minimize_window()
Maximize Window 
driver.maximize_window()
Get Window Size 
size = driver.get_window_size()
Set Window Position 
driver.set_window_position(100, 200)

Cookies

Add Cookie 
cookie = {"name": "test_cookie", "value": "cookie_value"} driver.add_cookie(cookie)
Get All Cookies 
cookies = driver.get_cookies()
Delete Cookie 
driver.delete_cookie("test_cookie")
Delete All Cookie 
driver.delete_all_cookies()

Taking Screenshot

Full Page 
driver.save_screenshot("full_page_screenshot.png")
WebElement Screenshot 
element = driver.find_element(By.ID, "element_id") element.screenshot("element_screenshot.png")

Working with Files

Upload a File 
file_input = driver.find_element(By.ID, "file_upload_id") # Replace with the actual locator file_input.send_keys("/path/to/your/file.txt")
Read Data from a Text File
Read Entire File Content
with open("example.txt", "r") as file:
  content = file.read()
  print("File Content:")
  print(content)
Read File Line by Line
with open("example.txt", "r") as file:
  for line in file:
    print("Line:", line.strip())
Use File Data in Selenium
with open("test_data.txt", "r") as file:
  data = file.readlines()
Read Data from a CSV File 
import csv

# Read the entire CSV file with
open("example.csv", "r") as file:
  reader = csv.reader(file)
  for row in reader:
    print("Row:", row)
Read Data from an Excel File
Using openpyxl
pip install openpyxl
from openpyxl import load_workbook
# Load the workbook
workbook = load_workbook("example.xlsx")

# Select the active worksheet
sheet = workbook.active

# Read all rows
for row in sheet.iter_rows(values_only=True):
  print(row)
Using pandas
pip install pandas
import pandas as pd
# Load the Excel file
data = pd.read_excel("example.xlsx")

# Iterate over rows
for index, row in data.iterrows():
  print(f"Row {index}: {row}"))

JavaScript Execution

Execute JavaScript 
driver.execute_script("JavaScript code here")
Disable a Field (set the 'disabled' attribute) 
driver.execute_script("arguments[0].setAttribute('disabled', 'true')", field)
Enable a Field (remove the 'disabled' attribute) 
driver.execute_script("arguments[0].removeAttribute('disabled')", field)

Selenium Grid

Start Hub 
java -jar selenium-server.jar hub
Start Node 
java -jar selenium-server.jar node --hub http://localhost:4444
Server

 
http://localhost:4444/ui

Best Practices

  • Use explicit waits over implicit waits for better performance.
  • Handle exceptions to avoid flaky tests:
    try:
  element = driver.find_element(By.ID, "nonexistent_id")

except Exception as e:
    print("Error:", e)
  • Always quit the WebDriver:
    driver.quit()

We trust this Selenium with Python commands cheat sheet will be a valuable resource to support your testing journey!