Selenium Python: Invalid Selector in find_element_by_css_selector

Question

I am building a python3 web bot using selenium-webdriver and don't have too much experience with selenium. I am getting an exception, "selenium.common.exceptions.InvalidSelectorException: Message: invalid selector: An invalid or illegal selector was specified", because of this line of code:

browser.find_element_by_css_selector("button[ng-click='$ctrl.login('gatorlink')']").click();

I'm fairly certain it's related to the single quotes surrounding the string "gatorlink", but I am really not sure. I know the selector is not correct. This is the button I am trying to click.

<button class="md-button md-ink-ripple" type="button" ng-transclude="" ng-click="$ctrl.login('gatorlink')" role="menuitem">
<md-icon class="ng-scope material-icons" role="img" aria-label="exit_to_app">exit_to_app</md-icon>
<span class="ng-scope">Log in with GatorLink</span>
</button>

It's in a drop down and I am able to open the menu but not click this button at the moment.

ng-click is an attribute of Angular and I doubt it will work like this. Did you check this? — Samarth
– Samarth, Commented Nov 8, 2018 at 16:28
I have used ng-click for the other buttons and it has worked just fine - that's why this is throwing me for a loop. — hodsonus
– hodsonus, Commented Nov 8, 2018 at 16:29
Oh sorry! I didn't look carefully earlier but there seems to be a problem with the quotes. Can you try this: browser.find_element_by_css_selector("button[ng-click=\"$ctrl.login('gatorlink')\"]").click(); — Samarth
– Samarth, Commented Nov 8, 2018 at 16:31
@Samarth With that, I get a ElementNotVisibleException. Is this because this button belongs to a dropdown menu? Your code finds the button but it says that it is not "interactable" — hodsonus
– hodsonus, Commented Nov 8, 2018 at 17:32
@hodsonus This sounds like an X-Y problem. Instead of asking for help with your solution to the problem, edit your question and ask about the actual problem. What are you trying to do? — undetected Selenium
– undetected Selenium, Commented Nov 8, 2018 at 17:51

Navarasu · Accepted Answer · 2018-11-09 10:46:32Z

2

You have single quotes inside single quotes, it is invalid selector.

You need to escape the single quotes.

browser.find_element_by_css_selector("button[ng-click='$ctrl.login(\\'gatorlink\\')']").click()

It works now and finding the element.

answered Nov 9, 2018 at 10:46

Navarasu

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Navarasu Over a year ago

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Bharadwaj Pendyala · Accepted Answer · 2018-11-08 16:35:05Z

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Try using locator as browser.find_element_by_css_selector(button.md-button md-ink-ripple).click();

answered Nov 8, 2018 at 16:35

Bharadwaj Pendyala

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