Difference between webdriver.get() and webdriver.navigate()

Question

What is the difference between get() and navigate() methods? Does any of this or maybe another method waits for page content to load? What do I rea

Answer 1

There are some differences between webdriver.get() and webdriver.navigate() method.

---

get()

As per the API Docs get() method in the WebDriver interface extends the SearchContext and is defined as:

/**
 * Load a new web page in the current browser window. This is done using an HTTP POST operation,
 * and the method will block until the load is complete.
 * This will follow redirects issued either by the server or as a meta-redirect from within the
 * returned HTML.
 * Synonym for {@link org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver.Navigation#to(String)}.
 */
void get(String url);
    

• Usage:

  driver.get("https://www.google.com/");
  

---

navigate()

On the other hand, navigate() is the abstraction which allows the WebDriver instance i.e. the driver to access the browser's history as well as to navigate to a given URL. The methods along with the usage are as follows:

• to(java.lang.String url): Load a new web page in the current browser window.

  driver.navigate().to("https://www.google.com/");
  

• to(java.net.URL url): Overloaded version of to(String) that makes it easy to pass in a URL.

• refresh(): Refresh the current page.

  driver.navigate().refresh();
  

• back(): Move back a single "item" in the browser's history.

  driver.navigate().back();
  

• forward(): Move a single "item" forward in the browser's history.

  driver.navigate().forward();