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Zendriver provides powerful methods for extracting data from web pages. This guide covers the fundamentals of finding and interacting with page elements.

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Finding elements by text

The find() method searches for elements containing specific text. It automatically waits up to 10 seconds for the element to appear. 
import asyncio
import zendriver as zd

async def main():
    browser = await zd.start()
    tab = await browser.get("https://www.google.com")
    
    # Find button by text content
    button = await tab.find("Search")
    await button.click()

if __name__ == "__main__":
    asyncio.run(main())

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Best match mode

When multiple elements contain your search text, use best_match=True to get the element with the most similar text length. This helps avoid matching script content or metadata. 
# Find the login button, not script tags containing "login"
login_button = await tab.find("login", best_match=True)
await login_button.click()
Text search includes script contents and metadata. Using best_match=True is recommended for better accuracy.

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Finding elements by CSS selector

Use select() to find elements by CSS selector. Like find(), it automatically waits for the element to appear. 
# Find single element
search_input = await tab.select("textarea[name='q']")
await search_input.send_keys("zendriver")

# Find button by class
submit_btn = await tab.select("button.submit-button")
await submit_btn.click()

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Finding multiple elements

Use find_all() and select_all() to retrieve multiple matching elements. 
# Find all links on the page
links = await tab.select_all("a[href]")

for link in links:
    url = link.get("href")
    text = link.text
    print(f"{text}: {url}")

# Find all elements containing specific text
price_elements = await tab.find_all("$")
for elem in price_elements:
    print(elem.text_all)
select_all() returns an empty list if no elements are found, rather than raising an exception.

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Extracting data from elements

Once you have an element, extract its data using properties and methods: 
element = await tab.select("a.product-link")

# Get attribute values
href = element.get("href")
class_name = element.get("class")
data_id = element.get("data-id")

# Get text content
text = element.text  # Direct text only
all_text = element.text_all  # Text including children

# Get HTML
html = await element.get_html()

# Get tag name
tag = element.tag  # Returns "a"

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Nested element searches

Search within an element to narrow your scope: 
# Find a container first
container = await tab.select(".product-list")

# Search within the container
products = await container.query_selector_all(".product-item")

for product in products:
    title = await product.query_selector(".title")
    price = await product.query_selector(".price")
    
    print(f"{title.text}: {price.text}")

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Getting page content

Retrieve the entire page HTML: 
# Get full page source
html_content = await tab.get_content()

# Parse with BeautifulSoup or lxml if needed
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
soup = BeautifulSoup(html_content, 'html.parser')
Get all URLs from a page: 
# Get all URLs from a, link, img, script, meta tags
urls = await tab.get_all_urls(absolute=True)

for url in urls:
    print(url)

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Complete scraping example

Here’s a complete example that scrapes product information: 
import asyncio
import zendriver as zd

async def scrape_products():
    browser = await zd.start()
    tab = await browser.get("https://example-shop.com/products")
    
    # Wait for products to load
    products = await tab.select_all(".product-card")
    
    results = []
    for product in products:
        # Extract data from each product
        title_elem = await product.query_selector(".title")
        price_elem = await product.query_selector(".price")
        link_elem = await product.query_selector("a")
        
        if title_elem and price_elem and link_elem:
            results.append({
                'title': title_elem.text,
                'price': price_elem.text,
                'url': link_elem.get('href')
            })
    
    await browser.stop()
    return results

if __name__ == "__main__":
    products = asyncio.run(scrape_products())
    for p in products:
        print(f"{p['title']}: {p['price']}")

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XPath support

For complex queries, use XPath: 
# Find all inline scripts (without src attribute)
scripts = await tab.xpath('//script[not(@src)]')

# Case-insensitive text search
elements = await tab.xpath(
    '//text()[contains(translate(., "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ", '
    '"abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"), "search text")]'
)
XPath queries can be slower than CSS selectors. Use them only when CSS selectors are insufficient.

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Next steps

Element interaction

Learn how to click, type, and interact with elements

Waiting and timing

Master timing and synchronization techniques

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