microsoft / microsoft/playwright-java

[Bug]: Playwright does not recognize Pattern quotation escape sequence (\Q ... \E)

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Description

Version

1.47.0

Steps to reproduce

Using Playwright Java, navigate to https://playwright.dev

Run the following assertions:

working:

assertThat(page.getByRole(AriaRole.HEADING)
  .filter(new Locator.FilterOptions().setHasText(Pattern.compile("Playwright")))
).isVisible();

not working:

assertThat(page.getByRole(AriaRole.HEADING)
  .filter(new Locator.FilterOptions().setHasText(Pattern.compile(Pattern.quote("Playwright"))))
).isVisible();
Expected behavior

Both patterns should work, as they match exactly the same strings.

Actual behavior

The second pattern fails to find the DOM element.

Additional context

Java has the Regex special escapes \Q and \E, which means all characters are quoted as is betwen those two escape sequences. This is exactly what Pattern.quote does.

In other words, these are equivalent (as you can see if you print the result of Pattern.quote):
Pattern.compile("\\Qsometext\\E")
Pattern.compile(Pattern.quote("sometext"))

This is documented here (search for "Quotation"): https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/util/regex/Pattern.html

This is speculation, but why it might fail is if the regex is just transferred to the Javascript engine and executed there. Javascript does not seem to have the \Q and \E special escapes, which leads to the meaning of the passed regex to change.

You can also check here, switch between Java and ECMAScript engines; it works for Java but not for Javascript: https://regex101.com/r/lJ1XNH/1

Environment

macOS Sequoia, arm64
Java 17
Chromium browser (others not tested)

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with the Java Locator.FilterOptions.setHasText entry point and reproduce the two Pattern.compile assertions against the heading on playwright.dev. Trace how Java regular expressions are transferred to the browser’s JavaScript engine, then verify that both plain and Pattern.quote patterns match the same element.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
java, javascript
Domain
testing-qa
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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