How can I retrieve the HTML source of a specific WebElement in Selenium WebDriver using Python?

To retrieve the HTML source of a specific WebElement (including its children) in Selenium WebDriver using Python, you can use the get_attribute('outerHTML') method. Here's how you can achieve it:

Solution

from selenium import webdriver

# Set up the WebDriver

driver = webdriver.Firefox()  # You can use any browser WebDriver

driver.get("https://example.com")  # Replace with your target URL

# Locate the element

element = driver.find_element_by_css_selector("#my-id")  # Replace with your desired CSS selector

# Get the HTML source of the element

element_html = element.get_attribute("outerHTML")

print(element_html)

# Close the browser

driver.quit()

Explanation

Locate the Element:

Use methods like find_element_by_css_selector, find_element_by_id, or find_element (with By locators) to locate the desired WebElement.

Retrieve HTML Source:

outerHTML: Returns the HTML of the element including the element itself and all its children.

innerHTML: Returns the HTML inside the element, excluding the element itself.

Example:

If the HTML is:

    Hello World

outerHTML will return:

    Hello World

innerHTML will return:

  Hello World

Print or Process the HTML:

The get_attribute("outerHTML") method returns the HTML as a string, which you can print or further process in your script.

Notes

• Replace #my-id with the actual CSS selector or XPath of the element you want to target.
  

If you're using Selenium 4, prefer find_element with By locators:

from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By

element = driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "#my-id")