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Inconsistent assert behavior for text #5278

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@geowarin-sg

Hello!

While experimenting with codecept I noticed inconsistent behaviors between the testing methods.

Here are two tests:

  • The first contains spans that have numbers in them. The asserts are generally consistent (they add spaces to each span) except grabTextFrom, which adds \n.
  • The second is much more problematic. In this one, the HTML also contains spans, but with bootstrap styles on the spans. We can see that:
    • I.see adds spaces
    • I.waitForText does not
    • nor does I.grabTextFrom
    • BUT when we add .at(1) to the locator, it changes the behavior of waitForText().

The way the text is asserted changes depending on:

  • the CSS of the page
  • the assertion method used
  • the selector
  • the whitespaces in the HTML
import { writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
import { resolve } from "node:path";

Feature("Spans");

Scenario("text line returns", async ({ I }) => {
  const file = `${resolve(process.cwd(), "examples", "returns.html")}`;
  writeFileSync(file, `
  <div id="app">
    <span>1</span>
    <span>2</span>
    <span>3</span>
  </div>
  `);
  I.amOnPage(`file://${file}`);

  const appLocator = locate("#app");

  I.see("1 2 3", appLocator);
  I.waitForText("1 2 3", 1, appLocator);

  const text = await I.grabTextFrom(appLocator);
  I.expect(text).toEqual("\n    1\n    2\n    3\n  ");

  I.see("1 2 3", appLocator.at(1));
  I.waitForText("1 2 3", 1, appLocator.at(1));

  const text2 = await I.grabTextFrom(appLocator.at(1));
  I.expect(text2).toEqual("\n    1\n    2\n    3\n  ");
});

Scenario("test boostrap styles", async ({ I }) => {
  const file = `${resolve(process.cwd(), "examples", "bootstrap.html")}`;
  writeFileSync(file, `
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/bootstrap@5.3.3/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css">
<div class="d-flex align-items-baseline lh-1 monospace-numbers" id="app"><span class="text-nowrap fs-21 lh-1">0</span><span class="text-nowrap fs-21 lh-1">.</span><span class="text-nowrap fs-21 lh-1">8</span><span class="text-nowrap fs-21 lh-1">8</span><span class="text-nowrap fs-48 lh-1">6</span><span class="text-nowrap fs-48 lh-1">7</span><span class="text-nowrap fs-18 lh-1 align-self-start mt-1">8</span></div>
  `);
  I.amOnPage(`file://${file}`);

  const appLocator = locate("#app");

  I.see("0 . 8 8 6 7 8", appLocator);
  I.waitForText("0.88678", 1, appLocator);

  const text = await I.grabTextFrom(appLocator);
  I.expect(text).toEqual("0.88678");

  I.see("0 . 8 8 6 7 8", appLocator.at(1));
  // IDK what it expects... it just does not work the same with .at(1)!!!!
  // I.waitForText("0.88678", 1, appLocator.at(1));

  const text2 = await I.grabTextFrom(appLocator.at(1));
  I.expect(text2).toEqual("0.88678");
});

Activity

  1. geowarin-sg commented on Oct 28, 2025

    @geowarin-sg
    Author

    Here is what the two tests render in the browser:

    Image Image

    In an ideal world, I shouldn't care about whitespaces I can't see visually.

  2. github-actions commented on Jan 27, 2026

    @github-actions

    This issue is stale because it has been open for 90 days with no activity.

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