findElement(): It is used to find the first element within the current page using the given “locating mechanism”. It returns a single WebElement.

findElements(): It uses the given “locating mechanism” to find all the elements within the current page. It returns a list of web elements.

In Selenium, findElement() and findElements() are methods used to locate and interact with web elements on a web page. Here are the key differences between them:

Return Type:
- findElement(): Returns the first matching element found on the web page. If no element is found, it throws a NoSuchElementException.
- findElements(): Returns a list of all matching elements found on the web page. If no elements are found, it returns an empty list.
Usage:
- findElement(): Use this when you expect only one element to match the given criteria, and you are interested in interacting with the first matching element.
- findElements(): Use this when you expect multiple elements to match the given criteria, and you want to work with all the matching elements.

Example using Java with Selenium WebDriver:

import org.openqa.selenium.By;

import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;

import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;

import java.util.List;

// Assuming ‘driver’ is an instance of WebDriver// Using findElement() to locate a single element
WebElement singleElement = driver.findElement(By.id(“exampleId”));
singleElement.click();

// Using findElements() to locate multiple elements
List<WebElement> multipleElements = driver.findElements(By.className(“exampleClass”));
for (WebElement element : multipleElements) {
// Perform actions on each matching element
element.click();
}

In summary, findElement() is used for locating and interacting with a single web element, while findElements() is used when dealing with multiple matching elements.