within.md

title
within

Scopes all subsequent cy commands to within this element. Useful when working within a particular group of elements such as a <form>.

It is unsafe to chain further commands that rely on the subject after .within().

Syntax

.within(callbackFn)
.within(options, callbackFn)

Usage

Correct Usage

cy.get('.list')
  .first()
  .within(($list) => {}) // Yield the first `.list` and scope all commands within it

Incorrect Usage

cy.within(() => {}) // Errors, cannot be chained off 'cy'
cy.getCookies().within(() => {}) // Errors, 'getCookies' does not yield DOM element
cy.get('div').within(($divs) => {}) // Probably errors, because get('div') yields multiple elements

Arguments

callbackFn (Function)

Pass a function that takes the current yielded subject as its first argument.

options (Object)

Pass in an options object to change the default behavior of .within().

Option	Default	Description
log	true	Displays the command in the Command log

Yields

• .within() yields the same subject it was given.
• It is unsafe to chain further commands that rely on the subject after .within().

Trying to return a different element the .within callback have no effect:

<div id="within-yields">
  The parent div
  <div class="some-child">Child element</div>
</div>

cy.get('#within-yields')
  .within(() => {
    // we are trying to return something
    // from the .within callback,
    // but it won't have any effect
    return cy.contains('Child element').should('have.class', 'some-child')
  })
  .should('have.id', 'within-yields')

Similarly, trying to change the subject by using the cy.wrap command inside the .within callback have no effect:

<div id="wrap-inside-within">
  The parent div
  <div class="some-child">Child element</div>
</div>

cy.get('#wrap-inside-within')
  .within(() => {
    // returning cy.wrap(...) has no effect on the yielded value
    // it will still be the original parent DOM element
    return cy.wrap('a new value')
  })
  .should('have.id', 'wrap-inside-within')

Examples

Forms

Get inputs within a form and submit the form

<form>
  <input name="email" type="email" />
  <input name="password" type="password" />
  <button type="submit">Login</button>
</form>

cy.get('form').within(($form) => {
  // you have access to the found form via
  // the jQuery object $form if you need it

  // cy.get() will only search for elements within form,
  // not within the entire document
  cy.get('input[name="email"]').type('john.doe@email.com')
  cy.get('input[name="password"]').type('password')
  cy.root().submit()
})

Tables

Find row with specific cell and confirm other cells in the row

<table>
  <tr>
    <td>My first client</td>
    <td>My first project</td>
    <td>0</td>
    <td>Active</td>
    <td><button>Edit</button></td>
  </tr>
</table>

cy.contains('My first client')
  .parent('tr')
  .within(() => {
    // all searches are automatically rooted to the found tr element
    cy.get('td').eq(1).contains('My first project')
    cy.get('td').eq(2).contains('0')
    cy.get('td').eq(3).contains('Active')
    cy.get('td').eq(4).contains('button', 'Edit').click()
  })

Temporarily escape

You can temporarily escape the .within context by starting a new command chain with cy.root followed by .closest commands.

<section class="example">
  <!-- note the input field outside the form -->
  <input id="name" type="text" />
  <form>
    <input name="email" type="email" />
    <input name="password" type="password" />
    <button type="submit">Login</button>
  </form>
</section>

cy.get('form').within(($form) => {
  // temporarily escape the .within context
  cy.root().closest('.example').find('#name').type('Joe')
  // continue using the .within context
  cy.get('input[name="email"]').type('john.doe@email.com')
  cy.get('input[name="password"]').type('password')
  cy.root().submit()
})

Rules

Requirements

• .within() requires being chained off a previous command that yields exactly one DOM element.

Assertions

.within() will only run assertions you have chained once, and will not retry.

Timeouts

.within() cannot time out.

Command Log

Get the input within the form

cy.get('.query-form').within((el) => {
  cy.get('input:first')
})

The commands above will display in the Command Log as:

When clicking on the within command within the command log, the console outputs the following:

History

Version	Changes
12.0.0	.within() now throws an error when given more than one element as the subject.
5.4.0	fixed the yielded value to always be the parent element
< 0.3.3	.within() command added

See also

• .root()