How to Use Playwright Locators in 2026

Core Locator Syntax & Options

Playwright provides a flexible and intuitive syntax for working with locators, allowing you to interact with elements efficiently. The core syntax for locators follows a simple pattern, with various options available for filtering and targeting elements more precisely.

Core Syntax

The basic syntax for a Playwright locator is:

page.locator(selector);

1. page.locator(): This is the primary method used to find elements on the page. You can pass a CSS selector or XPath expression as the selector.

For built-in locators (like getByRole, getByText, etc.), the syntax looks like this:

page.getByRole(role, options);

2. role: The ARIA role or element type (e.g., button, textbox).

3. options: A set of optional filters that help refine your search (e.g., name, checked, selected).

Common Options for Filtering Locators

• name: Matches elements based on their accessible name or label. Useful for form controls, buttons, etc.
• checked: Filters elements that are checked (useful for checkboxes, radios).
• selected: Targets selected elements (e.g., tabs, dropdown options).
• expanded: Filters elements that are expanded (e.g., accordion items, dropdowns).
• level: Used with heading elements to specify their level (e.g., h1, h2).
• includeHidden: Includes hidden elements in the search. By default, hidden elements are excluded.

Chaining Locators

You can chain locators for more complex interactions. For example, locating a button inside a dialog:

page.getByRole(‘dialog’).getByRole(‘button’, { name: ‘Save’ }).click();

This method improves precision by narrowing down the search scope to a specific context (e.g., within a modal or a specific section).

Locator Filters

Playwright locators can be refined using various options to filter results, such as:

• visible: Only targets visible elements.
• hidden: Specifically selects hidden elements.
• disabled: Filters out disabled elements.
• checked, expanded, selected: Target elements with specific states.

With these powerful syntax options and filters, Playwright allows for precise, flexible, and reliable element targeting, making your tests more robust and adaptive to changing UIs.

Best Practices for Creating Resilient Locators

Creating resilient locators ensures your Playwright tests remain stable and reliable, even as your application’s UI evolves. Here are the best practices to follow:

• Prioritize Semantic HTML and ARIA Roles: Use native HTML elements (e.ge.g., <button>, <input>, <a>) and their corresponding ARIA roles (e.g., button, textbox, link). This leads to more stable locators that reflect real user interactions and ensures your tests align with accessibility standards.
• Use Accessible Names: Always provide meaningful accessible names through visible text, aria-label, or aria-labelledby. This makes locators more precise and accessible, improving both test reliability and usability for assistive technologies.
• Combine Role and Name for Precision: When targeting elements, combine the role with the name (e.g., getByRole(‘button’, { name: ‘Submit’ })). This ensures you’re selecting the correct element, especially in cases where multiple elements share the same role.
• Avoid Using Structural Selectors: Steer clear of relying on CSS classes or XPath that are dependent on the DOM structure, as these can easily break when the UI is updated. Instead, use semantic locators such as getByRole, getByLabel, or getByText for better stability.
• Leverage Auto-Waiting Features: Playwright’s locators automatically wait for elements to be visible and interactable. Avoid manual waits (e.g., waitForTimeout) and let Playwright handle synchronization to ensure your tests are more stable and faster.
• Use Chaining and Nested Locators: Chain locators to refine your element selection in complex UIs. For example, locate a button within a modal or a specific section to avoid selecting the wrong element. This reduces ambiguity and makes tests more context-specific.
• Keep Locator Names Consistent: Use a consistent naming convention across your test suite. This helps avoid confusion and ensures that your locators remain easy to maintain and update over time.
• Refactor Locators When Necessary: As your app evolves, periodically revisit and refactor your locators. Keep them as simple as possible while ensuring they are robust enough to handle minor UI changes.
• Test for Accessibility: Adopt an accessibility-first approach to locators. Using roles and accessible names not only ensures your tests are more stable but also improves the accessibility of your application, benefiting users with disabilities.

Using Playwright’s Codegen and Locator Inspector

Playwright provides powerful tools like Codegen and Locator Inspector to help developers create, debug, and optimize locators with ease. These tools streamline the process of writing tests and ensure that locators are accurate and reliable.

Playwright Codegen

Codegen is an automatic test generation tool in Playwright that records your interactions with the application and generates the corresponding test scripts. This is useful for quickly creating test cases and understanding how to interact with elements on the page.

How to use Codegen:

Simply run the Playwright Codegen command, and it will launch the browser, allowing you to record interactions like clicks, typing, and navigation. Playwright generates the corresponding test code as you interact with the page.

npx playwright codegen

Playwright Locator Inspector

The Locator Inspector is a debugging tool that allows you to inspect how Playwright locators interact with elements on a page in real time. It helps visualize and refine locators by highlighting the elements matched by the locators.

How to use Locator Inspector:

• Launch Playwright’s Inspector from the command line or Playwright Test Runner.
• Use it to inspect locators, check the visibility and state of elements, and see how Playwright is resolving them in real-time.
• The Inspector provides insights into why a locator might not be working and allows for easy adjustments.

Both Codegen and Locator Inspector enhance the speed and accuracy of writing Playwright tests by automating the process of locator creation and providing real-time feedback on locator behavior.

Chaining and Filtering Locators for Precision

In Playwright, chaining and filtering locators allows you to target elements more precisely, especially in complex or dynamic UIs. By combining multiple locators and applying filters, you can avoid ambiguity and ensure your tests interact with the correct elements.

Chaining Locators

Chaining locators narrows down searches by first selecting a parent element and then targeting a child element within it, making the locator more specific and context-aware.

Example: Targeting a button within a modal

const modal = page.getByRole(‘dialog’, { name: ‘Settings’ });

await modal.getByRole(‘button’, { name: ‘Save’ }).click();

Filtering Locators

Playwright offers filters like name, checked, selected, expanded, disabled, and includeHidden to refine element selection based on specific states.

Example: Selecting a checked checkbox

await page.getByRole(‘checkbox’, { name: ‘I agree to terms’, checked: true }).click();

Chaining and filtering locators improve test accuracy, efficiency, and readability, making them essential tools for writing robust Playwright tests.

Handling Dynamic and Asynchronous UI

Handling dynamic and asynchronous elements is crucial in modern web applications, where content may change or load dynamically. Playwright offers several strategies to ensure your tests remain stable when interacting with such elements.

• Auto-Waiting: Playwright automatically waits for elements to become visible, stable, and interactable. This built-in auto-waiting feature reduces the need for manual waits or timeouts, ensuring your tests synchronize with the page’s loading state.
• Using waitFor Methods: For more control, Playwright provides waitForSelector() and other waitFor methods, allowing you to explicitly wait for elements to appear or become ready before interacting with them.
• Handling Delayed or Lazy-Loaded Content: If your application loads content asynchronously (e.g., infinite scrolling, AJAX requests), use waitForResponse() or waitForRequest() to wait for network responses before interacting with elements.
• Dealing with Animations: For pages with animations or transitions, use waitForTimeout() or wait for the animation to complete using appropriate selectors to ensure the element is in the desired state.
• Handling Element Visibility: Use Playwright’s isVisible() method to check if an element is visible before performing actions on it. This is useful for handling elements that appear or disappear based on user interactions or page changes.

Accessibility-first Locator Strategy

An accessibility-first locator strategy ensures that your tests are not only resilient but also improve the overall accessibility of your web application.

By using locators based on accessibility principles, you ensure that tests align with how real users interact with the application, including those using assistive technologies like screen readers.

Key Components of an Accessibility-First Strategy

• Use Semantic HTML Elements: Always prefer native HTML elements like <button>, <input>, <label>, and <a>. These come with built-in ARIA roles and behaviors, making them easier to locate and interact with.
• Leverage ARIA Roles and Accessible Names: When custom elements are necessary, ensure they have appropriate ARIA roles (e.g., button, textbox, link) and accessible names (via aria-label, aria-labelledby, or text content).
• Combine Role and Name: For more precise targeting, combine the role and name in locators (e.g., getByRole(‘button’, { name: ‘Submit’ })). This reduces ambiguity and ensures the correct element is selected.

By implementing an accessibility-first locator strategy, you not only improve the robustness of your tests but also contribute to creating a more inclusive and user-friendly application.

To ensure your accessibility-first locator strategy is fully implemented across your application, BrowserStack Accessibility Testing provides a powerful solution for validating your UI on real devices and browsers.

By integrating BrowserStack Accessibility Testing into your workflow, you can automatically scan for WCAG compliance, detect screen reader issues, and ensure that your app is fully accessible to users with disabilities.

With support for real-world devices and cross-browser compatibility, BrowserStack ensures that your locators, based on semantic HTML and ARIA roles, work seamlessly across diverse environments.

This enhances the reliability of your tests and guarantees that your application is not only testable but also truly accessible.

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Conclusion

By adopting a well-defined locator strategy in Playwright, you ensure your tests are both reliable and scalable. Using built-in locators like getByRole and getByText not only aligns with accessibility best practices but also makes your tests more resilient to UI changes. Incorporating techniques like chaining, filtering, and handling dynamic content further enhances precision and stability.

With tools like BrowserStack Automate, you can scale your Playwright tests across multiple browsers and devices, ensuring comprehensive coverage and faster feedback. Ultimately, these strategies help build a more robust, accessible, and efficient testing framework, ensuring your application delivers a seamless user experience.

Useful Resources for Playwright

• Playwright Automation Framework
• Playwright Java Tutorial
• Playwright Python tutorial
• Playwright Debugging
• End to End Testing using Playwright
• Visual Regression Testing Using Playwright
• Mastering End-to-End Testing with Playwright and Docker
• Page Object Model in Playwright
• Scroll to Element in Playwright
• Understanding Playwright Assertions
• Cross Browser Testing using Playwright
• Playwright Selectors
• Playwright and Cucumber Automation

Tool Comparisons:

• Playwright vs Puppeteer
• Playwright vs Cypress
• Playwright vs Selenium
• Cypress vs Selenium vs Playwright vs Puppeteer