How to Check if an Element Exists in Selenium Java?

To check if an element exists in Selenium Java, the safest and most common method is to use the findElements() method. This method returns a list of matching elements—if the list size is greater than zero, the element exists; if the list is empty, the element does not exist. This approach avoids exceptions and is more efficient than using findElement(), which throws a NoSuchElementException if the element is not found.

Example: Check If Element Exists Using findElements() Method

package org.example;

import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import java.util.List;

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
        driver.get("https://www.google.com");

        List<WebElement> elements = driver.findElements(By.id("elementId"));
        if (elements.size() > 0) {
            System.out.println("Element exists!");
        } else {
            System.out.println("Element does not exist.");
        }

        driver.quit();
    }
}

• Replace By.id("elementId") with the desired locator for your element.

Alternative: Using Try-Catch with findElement() Method

You can also use findElement() in a try-catch block, but this is less preferable due to exception handling overhead:

import org.openqa.selenium.NoSuchElementException;

boolean exists;
try {
    driver.findElement(By.id("elementId"));
    exists = true;
} catch (NoSuchElementException e) {
    exists = false;
}

Summary Table

Method	Behavior if Element Not Found	Exception Safe	Example Code
findElements()	Returns empty list	Yes	driver.findElements(By.id("id"))
findElement()	Throws NoSuchElementException	No	driver.findElement(By.id("id"))

Recommendation: Use findElements() and check the list size, as it is the most robust and readable way to check for the existence of an element in Selenium Java.