TypeError: 'str' object is not callable using Selenium through Python

Question

When I try to do code shown below I get error :

TypeError: 'str' object is not callable

email2_elem = driver.find_element_by_xpath("/html/body/div[1]/div[2]/div[1]/div[1]/div[1]/form[1]/div[1]/input[1]").text()

Answer 1

This error message...

TypeError: 'str' object is not callable

...implies that your program have invoked a function() which is actually a property.

As per selenium.webdriver.remote.webelement text is a property.

So, you can't invoke text() as a function. Hence you see the error.

Solution

You can use either of the following solutions:

• Use text property:

  email2_elem = driver.find_element_by_xpath("/html/body/div[1]/div[2]/div[1]/div[1]/div[1]/form[1]/div[1]/input[1]").text
  

• Use get_attribute("innerHTML") method:

  email2_elem = driver.find_element_by_xpath("/html/body/div[1]/div[2]/div[1]/div[1]/div[1]/form[1]/div[1]/input[1]").get_attribute("innerHTML")
  

Answer 2

text is a property, not a function. Use it without ()

element.text

As a side note, absolute xpath "/html/body/..." is a bad approach, it makes fragile locator. You should try locating the elements by unique attribute (id, name, class etc), or atleast relative xpath.