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Unknown engine "name" while parsing selector name=startcreateddate createStackless in Playwright

November 21, 2023

I have tried to identify the element using id or name in Playwright, but playwright throws an error:

"Unknown engine "name" while parsing selector name=startcreateddate createStackless".

My code is:

playwright.$("name=startcreateddate")

How can I select an element by Id or name in Playwright?

>Solution :

I’m guessing you’re trying to select elements that look something like those in the following example, and doing it in the browser console during a debug session initiated by a Playwright Python script (based on your tag).

For selecting an element with an id:

<p id="foo">hello</p>

use playwright.$("#foo").

For selecting an element with a name= attribute:

<input name="startcreateddate">

use playwright.$('[name="startcreateddate"]').

The reason for the bizarre-looking error in your console is that foo= syntax is used to set the selection engine, like text=, css= or xpath=. name= is not a valid engine option.

Here’s a complete runnable example (you can paste the above commands into the browser console when it pauses on the breakpoint):

from playwright.sync_api import expect, sync_playwright  # 1.37.0


html = """<!DOCTYPE html><html><body>
<p id="foo">hello</p>
<input name="startcreateddate" value="world">
</body></html>"""


def main():
    with sync_playwright() as p:
        browser = p.chromium.launch(headless=False)
        page = browser.new_page()
        page.set_content(html)

        page.pause() # paste the code above into the browser console

        # just in case you want to see these selectors in Python...
        p = page.locator("#foo")
        date = page.locator('[name="startcreateddate"]')

        print(p.text_content())
        print(date.get_attribute("value"))

        expect(p).to_have_text("hello")
        expect(date).to_have_value("world")

        browser.close()


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()