--- description: Why do you need Find Element/s command? Interaction with a web page requires a user to locate the web element. Find Element command is used to uniquely identify a (one) web element within the web page title: FindElement by XPath in Selenium image: https://www.guru99.com/images/1/041318_1101_FindElement1.png --- [Skip to content](#main) **⚡ Smart Summary** FindElement by XPath in Selenium uniquely identifies a single web element on a page, while FindElements returns a complete list of matching elements. Both commands accept a By locator object covering ID, Name, Class Name, and XPath strategies. * ✅ **Core Principle:** FindElement returns the first matching WebElement; FindElements returns a list indexed from zero, like an array. * ⚠️ **Exception Handling:** FindElement throws NoSuchElementException when no match exists, whereas FindElements returns an empty list instead of failing. * 🧭 **Locator Strategies:** Choose among ID, Name, Class Name, Tag Name, Link Text, Partial Link Text, and XPath. * 🧩 **Implementation Focus:** Pass a By object with a unique locator value to target elements reliably in WebDriver scripts. * 🚀 **Practical Application:** Working Java examples demonstrate clicking a radio button and iterating a list of elements on a demo page. [ Read More ](javascript:void%280%29;) [](https://www.guru99.com/images/find-element-selenium-1.png) In Selenium WebDriver, **FindElement** and **FindElements** are the core commands used to locate web elements on a page before any action, such as a click or text entry, can be performed on them. ## Why do you need Find Element(s) command? Interaction with a web page requires a user to locate the web element first. The Find Element command is used to uniquely identify one web element within the web page, whereas the Find Elements command is used to identify a list of web elements. An element can be identified using multiple [locator strategies](https://www.guru99.com/locators-in-selenium-ide.html) such as ID, Name, Class Name, Link Text, Partial Link Text, Tag Name and [XPath](https://www.guru99.com/xpath-selenium.html). ## FindElement command syntax Below is the syntax of the FindElement command in Selenium WebDriver: `WebElement elementName = driver.findElement(By.LocatorStrategy("LocatorValue"));` The FindElement command takes the By object as the parameter and returns a single object of type WebElement. The By object, in turn, can be used with various locator strategies such as ID, Name, Class Name, XPath, etc. Locator Strategy can be any of the following values: * ID * Name * Class Name * Tag Name * Link Text * Partial Link Text * XPath Locator Value is the unique value using which a web element can be identified. It is the responsibility of developers and testers to make sure that web elements are uniquely identifiable using certain properties such as ID or Name. **Example:** `WebElement loginLink = driver.findElement(By.linkText("Login"));` ## Example: Find Element in Selenium The following demo application is used to show the FindElement command in action: ### Scenario: **Step 1:** Open the AUT **Step 2:** Find and click the radio button, then click the Check button package com.sample.stepdefinitions; import org.openqa.selenium.By; import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver; import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver; public class NameDemo { public static void main(String[] args) { // TODO Auto-generated method stub System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "D:\\3rdparty\\chrome\\chromedriver.exe"); WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver(); driver.manage().window().maximize(); driver.get("https://demo.guru99.com/test/ajax.html"); // Find the radio button for “No” using its ID and click on it driver.findElement(By.id("no")).click(); //Click on Check Button driver.findElement(By.id("buttoncheck")).click(); } } ## FindElements command syntax When you need every element that matches a locator rather than just the first one, use FindElements. Below is its syntax: `List elementName = driver.findElements(By.LocatorStrategy("LocatorValue"));` ### RELATED ARTICLES * [How to Download and Install Selenium IDE for Firefox & Chrome ](https://www.guru99.com/install-selenuim-ide.html "How to Download and Install Selenium IDE for Firefox & Chrome") * [Link Text and Partial Link Text in Selenium ](https://www.guru99.com/locate-by-link-text-partial-link-text.html "Link Text and Partial Link Text in Selenium") * [Live Selenium Webdriver Testing Project ](https://www.guru99.com/live-ecommerce-project.html "Live Selenium Webdriver Testing Project") * [Top 50 TestNG Interview Questions and Answers (2026) ](https://www.guru99.com/testng-interview-questions.html "Top 50 TestNG Interview Questions and Answers (2026)") The FindElements command takes the By object as the parameter and returns a list of web elements. It returns an empty list if there are no elements found using the given locator strategy and locator value. **Example:** `List listOfElements = driver.findElements(By.xpath("//div"));` ### RELATED ARTICLES * [How to Download and Install Selenium IDE for Firefox & Chrome ](https://www.guru99.com/install-selenuim-ide.html "How to Download and Install Selenium IDE for Firefox & Chrome") * [Link Text and Partial Link Text in Selenium ](https://www.guru99.com/locate-by-link-text-partial-link-text.html "Link Text and Partial Link Text in Selenium") * [Live Selenium Webdriver Testing Project ](https://www.guru99.com/live-ecommerce-project.html "Live Selenium Webdriver Testing Project") * [Top 50 TestNG Interview Questions and Answers (2026) ](https://www.guru99.com/testng-interview-questions.html "Top 50 TestNG Interview Questions and Answers (2026)") ## Example: Find Elements in Selenium The same demo application is used to show how FindElements iterates over a list of matching elements. ### Scenario: **Step 1:** Open the URL for Application Under Test **Step 2:** Find the text of the radio buttons and print it onto the output console package com.sample.stepdefinitions; import java.util.List; import org.openqa.selenium.By; import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver; import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement; import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver; public class NameDemo { public static void main(String[] args) { System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "X://chromedriver.exe"); WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver(); driver.get("https://demo.guru99.com/test/ajax.html"); List elements = driver.findElements(By.name("name")); System.out.println("Number of elements:" +elements.size()); for (int i=0; i