Union & Intersect - XPathy Documentation

XPathy goes beyond simple and(), or(), and not() chaining by introducing union and intersect operations. These allow you to group multiple conditions into clean, reusable blocks.

1. Union (union(Or...))

The union() method combines multiple OR conditions into a single predicate. Instead of chaining multiple .or() calls, you can list them together for clarity.

Multiple Login Button IDs

Example

XPathy locator = button.byAttribute(id)
                    .union(Or.equals("login-btn"),
                           Or.equals("signin-btn"),
                           Or.contains("auth"));

Result

//button[@id='login-btn' or @id='signin-btn' or contains(@id, 'auth')]

Use Case: Different environments (dev, QA, prod) may use slightly different IDs for the login button. Instead of writing separate locators for each, the union ensures one robust locator works everywhere.

2. Intersect (intersect(And...))

The intersect() method combines multiple AND conditions into one predicate. This is especially useful when you want a field or text to satisfy multiple patterns simultaneously.

Order Confirmation Messages

Example

XPathy locator = div.byText()
                    .intersect(And.startsWith("Order #"),
                              And.contains("Confirmed"),
                              And.not().contains("Cancelled"));

Result

//div[starts-with(text(), 'Order #') and contains(text(), 'Confirmed') and not(contains(text(), 'Cancelled'))]

Use Case: After placing an order, the app shows confirmation text in different formats. Intersect ensures your test only picks valid confirmed orders.

3. Using Transformations with Union and Intersect

Just like with single conditions, you can apply transformations inside union() and intersect(). This makes locators more resilient to variations.

Union with Transformation

Navigation Tabs

XPathy locator = li.byAttribute(class_)
                    .union(Or.withRemoveOnly(SPECIAL_CHARACTERS).contains("active"),
                           Or.withCase(IGNORED).equals("selected"));

Use Case: A navigation tab might render with classes like active!, selected, or SELECTED. With transformations, the locator still works consistently.

Intersect with Transformation

Product Labels

XPathy locator = span.byText()
                    .intersect(And.withNormalizeSpace().contains("Premium"),
                              And.withCase(LOWER).contains("subscription"));

Use Case: Product labels may appear as Premium SUBSCRIPTION, premium subscription, or PREMIUM Subscription. Normalization and case-insensitive comparison ensure all variants match.

Key Benefit: With union and intersect, XPathy makes real-world locators—like login buttons, order confirmations, and product labels—clean, robust, and transformation-friendly, while still compiling to pure XPath.

F - Union and Intersect Operations