Selenium Webdriver - Copy and Paste

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The copy and paste operations can be automated in test scripts developed with Selenium Webdriver. We would often copy a text from an edit box and paste it in another edit box while testing an application.

The copy and paste operations can be performed by using the Keys class in Selenium. The keys used to copy and paste can be done using the Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V respectively. These keys to be pressed are sent as parameters to the sendKeys() method.

Let us now discuss the identification of elements where the copy and paste operations are to be performed on a web page as shown in the below image. First, we would need to right click on the web page, and then click on the Inspect button in the Chrome browser. Then, the corresponding HTML code for the whole page would be visible. For investigating both the source and destination elements on that web page, we would need to click on the left upward arrow, available to the top of the visible HTML code as highlighted below.

Let us take an example on the below page, where we would first enter the text - Selenium beside the Name in the first input box (highlighted) then copy and paste the same text in another input box (highlighted) beside the Email.

Syntax

Syntax if we are using a MAC machine −

WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();

// Identify the first input box with xpath locator
WebElement e = driver.findElement(By.xpath("<value of xpath>"));

// enter some text
e.sendKeys("Selenium");

// Identify the second input box with xpath locator
WebElement s = driver.findElement(By.xpath("<value of xpath>"));

// copy text from first input box then paste to second input box
e.sendKeys(Keys.COMMAND, "a");
e.sendKeys(Keys.COMMAND, "c");

// paste to second input box
s.sendKeys(Keys.COMMAND, "v");

Syntax if we are using a Windows machine −

WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();

// Identify the first input box with xpath locator
WebElement e = driver.findElement(By.xpath("<value of xpath>"));

// enter some text
e.sendKeys("Selenium");

// Identify the second input box with xpath locator
WebElement s = driver.findElement(By.xpath("<value of xpath>"));

// copy text from first input box then paste to second input box
e.sendKeys(Keys.CONTROL, "a");
e.sendKeys(Keys.CONTROL, "c");

// paste to second input box
s.sendKeys(Keys.CONTROL, "v");

Example

Code Implementation on CopyAndPaste.java class file.

package org.example;

import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.Keys;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;

public class CopyAndPaste {
   public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {

      // Initiate the Webdriver
      WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();

      // adding implicit wait of 15 secs
      driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(15, TimeUnit.SECONDS);

      // Opening the webpage where we will identify an element
      driver.get("https://www.tutorialspoint.com/selenium/practice/selenium_automation_practice.php");

      // Identify the first input box with xpath locator
      WebElement e = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//*[@id='name']"));

      // enter some text
      e.sendKeys("Selenium");

      // Identify the second input box with xpath locator
      WebElement s = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//*[@id='email']"));

      // copy text from first input box then paste to second input box
      e.sendKeys(Keys.COMMAND, "a");
      e.sendKeys(Keys.COMMAND, "c");

      // paste to second input box
      s.sendKeys(Keys.COMMAND, "v");

      // Getting text in the second input box
      String text = s.getAttribute("value");
      System.out.println("Value copied and pasted: " + text);

      // Closing browser
      driver.quit();
   }
}

Output

Value copied and pasted: Selenium

Process finished with exit code 0

In the above example, we had first entered the text Selenium in the first input box and then copied and pasted the text in the second input box, and also obtained the entered text as a message in the console - Value copied and pasted: Selenium.

Finally, the message Process finished with exit code 0 was received, signifying successful execution of the code.

Let us take another example, where we would again first enter text in one input box then copy and paste the same text in another input box using the keyUp(), keyDown(), and sendKeys() methods of Actions class. All these methods take the key to be pressed as a parameter.

Syntax

Syntax if we are using a MAC machine −

WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();

// Identify the first input box with xpath locator
WebElement e = driver.findElement(By.xpath("<value of xpath>"));

// enter some text
e.sendKeys("Selenium");

// Identify the second input box with xpath locator
WebElement s = driver.findElement(By.xpath("<value of xpath>"));

// Actions class methods to select text
Actions a = new Actions(driver);
a.keyDown(Keys.COMMAND);
a.sendKeys("a");
a.keyUp(Keys.COMMAND);
a.build().perform();

// Actions class methods to copy text
a.keyDown(Keys.COMMAND);
a.sendKeys("c");
a.keyUp(Keys.COMMAND);
a.build().perform();

// Action class methods to tab and reach to  the next input box
a.sendKeys(Keys.TAB);
a.build().perform();

// Actions class methods to paste text
a.keyDown(Keys.COMMAND);
a.sendKeys("v");
a.keyUp(Keys.COMMAND);
a.build().perform();

Syntax if we are using a Windows machine −

WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();

// Identify the first input box with xpath locator
WebElement e = driver.findElement(By.xpath("<value of xpath>"));

// enter some text
e.sendKeys("Selenium");

// Identify the second input box with xpath locator
WebElement s = driver.findElement(By.xpath("<value of xpath>"));

// Actions class methods to select text
Actions a = new Actions(driver);
a.keyDown(Keys.CONTROL);
a.sendKeys("a");
a.keyUp(Keys.CONTROL);
a.build().perform();

// Actions class methods to copy text
a.keyDown(Keys.CONTROL);
a.sendKeys("c");
a.keyUp(Keys.CONTROL);
a.build().perform();

// Action class methods to tab and reach to next input box
a.sendKeys(Keys.TAB);
a.build().perform();

// Actions class methods to paste text
a.keyDown(Keys.CONTROL);
a.sendKeys("v");
a.keyUp(Keys.CONTROL);
a.build().perform();

Example

Code Implementation on CopyAndPasteActions.java class file.

package org.example;

import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.Keys;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.interactions.Actions;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;

public class CopyAndPasteAct {
   public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {

      // Initiate the Webdriver
      WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();

      // adding implicit wait of 15 secs
      driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(15, TimeUnit.SECONDS);

      // Opening the webpage where we will identify an element
      driver.get("https://www.tutorialspoint.com/selenium/practice/selenium_automation_practice.php");

      // Identify the first input box with xpath locator
      WebElement e = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//*[@id='name']"));

      // enter some text
      e.sendKeys("Selenium");

      // Actions class methods to select text
      Actions a = new Actions(driver);
      a.keyDown(Keys.COMMAND);
      a.sendKeys("a");
      a.keyUp(Keys.COMMAND);
      a.build().perform();

      // Actions class methods to copy text
      a.keyDown(Keys.COMMAND);
      a.sendKeys("c");
      a.keyUp(Keys.COMMAND);
      a.build().perform();

      // Action class methods to tab and reach to next input box
      a.sendKeys(Keys.TAB);
      a.build().perform();

      // Actions class methods to paste text
      a.keyDown(Keys.COMMAND);
      a.sendKeys("v");
      a.keyUp(Keys.COMMAND);
      a.build().perform();

      // Identify the second input box with xpath locator
      WebElement s = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//*[@id='email']"));

      // Getting text in the second input box
      String text = s.getAttribute("value");
      System.out.println("Value copied and pasted: " + text);

      // Closing browser
      driver.quit();
   }
}

Output

Value copied and pasted: Selenium

Process finished with exit code 0

In the above example, we had first entered the text Selenium in the first input box and then copied and pasted the text in the second input box, and also obtained the entered text as a message in the console - Value copied and pasted: Selenium.

Finally, the message Process finished with exit code 0 was received, signifying successful execution of the code.

Thus, in this tutorial, we had discussed how to handle copy and paste operations using the Selenium Webdriver.