[FIXED] i am learning selenium by my own. I have the following question from an interview. write an xpath using sibling

Issue

I have the following question from an interview: Write an xpath to access the hotels link by traversing from flights link:

i have highlighted the flights link in web browsertool. but how to do after that i am not sure

Solution

for this HTML:

<ul class="makeFlex font12">
   <li data-cy="menu_Flights" class="menu_Flights">
      <a href="https://www.makemytrip.com/flights/" class="active makeFlex hrtlCenter column
         ">
         <span class="chNavIcon appendBottom2 chSprite chFlights active"></span>
         <span class="false chNavText darkGreyText">
            <!-- --> <!-- -->Flights 
         </span>
      </a>
   </li>
   <li data-cy="menu_Hotels" class="menu_Hotels">
      <a href="https://www.makemytrip.com/hotels/" class="makeFlex hrtlCenter column">
         <span class="chNavIcon appendBottom2 chSprite chHotels"></span>
         <span class="false chNavText darkGreyText">
            <!-- --> <!-- -->Hotels 
         </span>
      </a>
   </li>
   <li data-cy="menu_Homestays" class="menu_Homestays">
      <a href="https://www.makemytrip.com/homestays/" class="makeFlex hrtlCenter column">
         <span class="chNavIcon appendBottom2 chSprite chHomestays"></span>
         <span class="false chNavText darkGreyText">
            <!-- --> <!-- -->Homestays 
         </span>
      </a>
   </li>
   <li data-cy="menu_Holidays" class="removeItemMargin menu_Holidays">
      <a href="https://www.makemytrip.com/holidays-india/" class="makeFlex hrtlCenter column">
         <span class="chNavIcon appendBottom2 chSprite chHolidays"></span>
         <span class="false chNavText darkGreyText">
            <!-- --> <!-- -->Holiday Packages 
         </span>
      </a>
   </li>
   <li data-cy="menu_Trains" class="menu_Trains">
      <a href="https://www.makemytrip.com/railways/" class="makeFlex hrtlCenter column">
         <span class="chNavIcon appendBottom2 chSprite chTrains"></span>
         <span class="false chNavText darkGreyText">
            <!-- --> <!-- -->Trains 
         </span>
      </a>
   </li>
   <li data-cy="menu_Buses" class="menu_Buses">
      <a href="https://www.makemytrip.com/bus-tickets/" class="makeFlex hrtlCenter column">
         <span class="chNavIcon appendBottom2 chSprite chBuses"></span>
         <span class="false chNavText darkGreyText">
            <!-- --> <!-- -->Buses 
         </span>
      </a>
   </li>
   <li data-cy="menu_Cabs" class="menu_Cabs">
      <a href="https://www.makemytrip.com/cabs/" class="makeFlex hrtlCenter column">
         <span class="chNavIcon appendBottom2 chSprite chCabs"></span>
         <span class="false chNavText darkGreyText">
            <!-- --> <!-- -->Cabs 
         </span>
      </a>
   </li>
   <li data-cy="menu_Visa" class="menu_Visa">
      <a href="https://www.makemytrip.com/visa/" class="makeFlex hrtlCenter column">
         <span class="chNavIcon appendBottom2 chSprite chVisa"></span>
         <span class="false chNavText darkGreyText">
            <!-- --> <!-- -->Visa 
         </span>
      </a>
   </li>
   <li data-cy="menu_Charters" class="menu_Charters">
      <a href="https://www.makemytrip.com/charter-flights/" class="makeFlex hrtlCenter column">
         <span class="chNavIcon appendBottom2 chSprite chCharterFlights"></span>
         <span class="reduceMenuSpacing chNavText darkGreyText">
            <!-- --> <!-- -->Charter Flights 
         </span>
      </a>
   </li>
   <li data-cy="menu_Activities" class="menu_Activities">
      <a href="https://www.makemytrip.com/activities/" class="makeFlex hrtlCenter column">
         <span class="chNavIcon appendBottom2 chSprite chActivities"></span>
         <span class="false chNavText darkGreyText">
            <!-- --> <!-- -->Activities 
         </span>
      </a>
   </li>
</ul>

A simple xpath to access the hotels link by traversing from flights link:

//a[contains(@href,'/flights/')]/../following-sibling::li

Explanation:

//a[contains(@href,'/flights/')]

is to target flights and then go step up in DOM by using /.. and the looking for following-sibling which is li

Answered By - cruisepandey