XPath provides the text() function, which can be used to see if an element contains the specified text in the following way:

WebElement cell = driver.findElement(By.xpath("http://td[contains(text(),'Item 1')]"));

We can also use a single period/dot, ".", instead of the text() function in following way:

WebElement cell = driver.findElement(By.xpath("http://td[contains(.,'Item 1')]"));

Here, we are using the contains function along with the text() function. The text() function returns the complete text from the element and the contains() function checks for the specific value that we have mentioned.

XPath also offers the normalize-space(.) function to match the element using the element's and its sub-element's text.

With XPath, elements can be searched by exact text value in the following way:

WebElement cell = driver.findElement(By.xpath("http://td[.='Item 1']"));

This will locate the <td> element matching the exact text.

The CSS selectors provide the contains() pseudo-class which can be used to see if an element contains the specified text. For example, a test wants to find the cell of a table using its contents in the following way:

WebElement cell = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("td:contains('Item 1')"));

The contains()pseudo-class accepts the text to be searched as a parameter. It then checks all the <td> elements in DOM for the specified text.

As an alternative to the contains() pseudo-class, you can use the innerText attribute (does not work with Firefox) or textContent attribute (for Firefox) in the following ways:

WebElement cell = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("td[innerText='Item 1']"));

Or:

WebElement cell = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("td[textContent='Item 1']"));

You can also use jQuery selectors, which support the contains() pseudo-class.