find_element_by_* commands are deprecated in Selenium

Question

When starting the function

def run(driver_path):
    driver = webdriver.Chrome(executable_path=driver_path)
    driver.get('https://tproger.ru/quiz/real-programmer/')
    button = driver.find_element_by_class_name("quiz_button")
    button.click()
run(driver_path)

I'm getting errors like these:

<ipython-input-27-c5a7960e105f>:6: DeprecationWarning: executable_path has been deprecated, please pass in a Service object
  driver = webdriver.Chrome(executable_path=driver_path)
<ipython-input-27-c5a7960e105f>:10: DeprecationWarning: find_element_by_* commands are deprecated. Please use find_element() instead
  button = driver.find_element_by_class_name("quiz_button")

... but I can't understand why.

I'm using WebDriver at the latest version for my Chrome's version. I don't why I get

find_element_by_* commands are deprecated

... when it's in the documentation that the command exists.

Raimes

Try checking this one. Matches your query. #61309299 – Disloyal

Answer 1

This error message...

DeprecationWarning: find_element_by_* commands are deprecated. Please use find_element() instead

...implies that the find_element_by_* commands are deprecated in the latest Selenium Python libraries.

As AutomatedTester mentions: This DeprecationWarning was the reflection of the changes made with respect to the decision to simplify the APIs across the languages and this does that.

---

Solution

Instead you have to use find_element(). As an example:

You have to include the following imports

from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By

• Using class_name:

  button = driver.find_element_by_class_name("quiz_button")
  

  Needs be replaced with:

  button = driver.find_element(By.CLASS_NAME, "quiz_button")
  

---

Along the lines of, you also have to change the following:

• Using id:

  element = find_element_by_id("element_id")
  

  Needs be replaced with:

  element = driver.find_element(By.ID, "element_id")
  

• Using name:

  element = find_element_by_name("element_name")
  

  Needs be replaced with:

  element = driver.find_element(By.NAME, "element_name")
  

• Using link_text:

  element = find_element_by_link_text("element_link_text")
  

  Needs be replaced with:

  element = driver.find_element(By.LINK_TEXT, "element_link_text")
  

• Using partial_link_text:

  element = find_element_by_partial_link_text("element_partial_link_text")
  

  Needs be replaced with:

  element = driver.find_element(By.PARTIAL_LINK_TEXT, "element_partial_link_text")
  

• Using tag_name:

  element = find_element_by_tag_name("element_tag_name")
  

  Needs be replaced with:

  element = driver.find_element(By.TAG_NAME, "element_tag_name")
  

• Using css_selector:

  element = find_element_by_css_selector("element_css_selector")
  

  Needs be replaced with:

  element = driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "element_css_selector")
  

• Using xpath:

  element = find_element_by_xpath("element_xpath")
  

  Needs be replaced with:

  element = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "element_xpath")
  

Note: If you are searching and replacing to implement the above changes, you will need to do the same thing for find_elements_*, i.e., the plural forms of find_element_*.

You may also find this upgrade guide useful as it covers some other unrelated changes you may need to make when upgrading: Upgrade to Selenium 4

Declassify

NameError: name 'By' is not defined – Clareta

from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By – Michelmichelangelo

This is great, this is alot of the commands in the recent new slightly different syntax. But what i see missing is the "send_keys". also on the Selenium website, they don't have an example yet for the "Send_Keys" but invite anyone to contribute an example. selenium.dev/documentation/webdriver/actions_api/keyboard/… , also if you can put a send_keys example here in your answer . currently i'm attempting the send_keys with driver.find_element(By.ID, 'element_name') example. if you can put that there, that would be great. Thanks, – Reinhart

What about this - emailaddress_input = driver.find_elements_by_xpath(x_path)[index], how can I provide index if I replace find_elements_by_xpath with find_element* function. – Rohn

Vim users can use this quick-and-dirty substitution to capture all of this: :%s/find_element([s]*)_by_([^(]*)(/find_element\1(By.\U\2, /g – Matty

Answer 2

@DebanjanB mentioned and explained the new structure. Also, it's better use these lines:

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
from selenium.webdriver.common.keys import Keys
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.service import Service

s = Service('C:/Users/.../chromedriver.exe')
driver = webdriver.Chrome(service=s)

Leavitt

What are keys for in this example? – Lenard

@Arete, By and Key will be used to detect target and input data! , these lines are the main structure . – Leavitt

Why is it better? Please respond by editing (changing) your answer, not here in comments (************** without ************** "Edit:", "Update:", or similar - the answer should appear as if it was written today). – Brushwork

Who is DebanjanB? What does it refer to? An answer to this question? A comment to this question? In some other Stack Overflow question? Something else? – Brushwork

Answer 3

As others mentioned, you should use find_element() or find_elements() instead of find_element_by_*() or find_elements_by_*().

I wrote the regex pattern to replace the deprecated methods to new ones, so try this if you need.

# from - e.g. find_element_by_id("test")

find_element(s?)_by_([a-z]+)\((.*)

# to - e.g. find_element(By.ID, "test")

find_element$1(By.\U$2\E, $3

Note: you need the import line to use the new methods

from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By

Deel

Here's a couple handy one liners to run before and after running the regex replace egrep 'find_element(s?)_by_([a-z]+)\((.*)' -R . | grep -v venv | cut -f1 -d: | sort -u | tee -a update-these.txt | xargs -I{} bash -c 'echo -e "from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By\n$(cat {})" > {}' AND to check that the imports were added to the files to update cat update-these.txt | xargs head -n 1 – Kalimantan

Re "regex pattern to replace the deprecated methods": Applied in what context? A Perl script? In a text editor? – Brushwork

Answer 4

Thank you @Stephen and undetected Selenium for your answers. After some time reading on how where to find an example of send_key, I found an amazing gist of examples.

The send_keys below example worked for me:

browser = webdriver.Chrome()

 

def test_key_down(driver):
    driver.get('https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/single_text_input.html?#')

    ActionChains(driver) \
        .send_keys("abc") \
        .perform()

 

test_key_down(browser)

Rickey

There isn't anybody here with the name "Stephen". What answer does it refer to? – Brushwork