Selenium Python: How to Click Elements Using JavaScript ‘onclick’ Attribute

If you’re using Selenium with Python and wondering how to find elements by their JavaScript onclick attribute, you’re not alone. Many dynamic buttons are defined this way, and traditional locators often fail. In this guide, we’ll show you how to use Selenium to find and click elements using onclick attributes.

Link to any other blog post on your site (e.g.):

Learn how to upload files with Selenium

Link to a helpful official doc:

Selenium Docs – Locating Elements

Let’s break down how you can locate and interact with these buttons using Selenium.

The Problem

Here is a sample HTML structure:

Both buttons look similar, but what sets them apart is the value passed to the onclick function.

The Goal

We want to click the second button, the one with:

onclick="javascript:actionPost('Edit', 'LDAP_Test')"

Solution 1: Use the ID (If It’s Static)

If the id value is consistent and unique, you can simply use:

from selenium import webdriver

driver = webdriver.Chrome()
driver.get("http://your-website.com")

driver.find_element(By.ID, "Edit").click()

Problem: What If the ID Is Dynamic?

Sometimes id values change between sessions. In that case, target the onclick content.

Solution 2: Match Using onclick Attribute

from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
from selenium import webdriver

driver = webdriver.Chrome()
driver.get("http://your-website.com")

# Match using partial onclick value
button = driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "input[onclick*='actionPost'][onclick*='LDAP_Test']")
button.click()

Why It Works

• The [onclick*='actionPost'] ensures we only select elements with an onclick containing actionPost
• The [onclick*='LDAP_Test'] narrows it down to the exact button we want

Pro Tip

Always inspect the full HTML around the element. If there are other unique patterns (like a parent div, row ID, or class), you can use them to build even more precise selectors.

---

Conclusion

With Selenium, there’s always a workaround — even for JavaScript-powered buttons. Using attributes like onclick gives you powerful ways to target exactly what you need.

Keep exploring and automating smartly!