Can any one explain this xpath

Question

Anyone can you please explain this xpath please. why we use '"+filterBy+"' rather than "+filterBy +" in this code segment. (I just simplify the code.this not an original one.)

String filterBy = "Hio";
System.out.println("//div[@class='filter-option-control-music']/div/label/span[text()='"+ filterBy + "']");

Answer 1

Let's split the elements of your string. You have a string, plus a variable, plus another string:

• string1://div[@class='filter-option-control-music']/div/label/span[text()='
• variable: filterBy, with value Hio, as string
• string2:']

In programming, strings are stored between double quotes usually, so string1 and string1 become:

• string1 = "//div[@class='filter-option-control-music']/div/label/span[text()='"
• string2 = "']"

So, string1 + string2 = "//div[@class='filter-option-control-music']/div/label/span[text()='']"

Now, if we want to also add the filterBy variable, we have:

string1 + variable + string2:"//div[@class='filter-option-control-music']/div/label/span[text()='" + filterBy + "']",

therefore, our new string will be:

"//div[@class='filter-option-control-music']/div/label/span[text()='Hio']"

We use '"+filterBy+"' rather than "+filterBy +", because ' and ' quotes are from text()=' '.

If we would use "+filterBy +" we would have this string:

"//div[@class='filter-option-control-music']/div/label/span[text()=Hio]" 

which is an incorrect xpath, because strings are always between double or single quotes.

More information on strings manipulation can be found here: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/First_steps/Strings

Answer 2

It's not

'"+filterBy+"' rather than "+filterBy +"

It's different types of quotation marks used to build a string with quotations inside it. The result is

//div[@class='filter-option-control-music']/div/label/span[text()='Hio']

Two '-s around Hio are the '" and "'.

Here you can read a bit more - Using quotation marks inside quotation marks.