CSS Selector Generator Benchmark

This is an attempt to create a benchmark for various JavaScript libraries for generating CSS selectors. It is inspired by @dandv's question.

Usage

npm install
npm test

index.html should open in a browser tab with further instructions.

Results

@antonmedv finder

• NPM package, written in TypeScript
• no dependencies
• has tests
• has documentation
• MIT license
• slower speed than other libraries (still fast enough for regular use)
• creates efficient and robust selectors using ID, class, tags and child marker
  • does not seem to support attribute selectors
• generates shortest selectors among all tested libraries

Longest selector:

.block:nth-child(3) li:nth-child(2) > .icon-eye-open

@autarc optimal-select

• supports UMD (Browser & Node)
• no dependencies
• no tests
• MIT license
• allows single and multiple input elements
• separate handling of selection and optimization (export ES2015 Modules)
• creates efficient and robust selectors using ID, class, attributes, tags and child marker

Longest selector:

.clearfix:nth-of-type(3) li:nth-of-type(2) .icon-eye-open

@bimech ellocate.js

• supports Bower
• depends on Jquery
• has tests
• has documentation
• no license
• average speed
• uses ID, class and tag selectors
• WARNING: doesn't use nth-child selectors, so it produces a lot of non-unique selectors

Longest selector:

html > body > div > div#wrap > div#main > div.container > div.main-content > div.row > div.span12 > div.row > div.span4.sidebar > div.block.clearfix > div.block-header.clearfix > div.block-action > a.btn.btn-success.btn-small > i.icon-plus.icon-white

Chromium's DOMPresentationUtils

NOTE: Used version on NPM adapted for use in browser.

• supports NPM
• no dependencies
• no tests
• has documentation
• see source code for license
• average speed
• uses ID, class, tag, attribute (for inputs) and nth-child child selectors
• WARNING: produces a lot of non-unique selectors in both optimized and non-optimized version

Example of non-unique selector:

div#main > div > div > div > div > div > div.span4.sidebar > div.block.clearfix > div.block-content > ul > li.show-all > a

[
  <a href=​"/​organizations">​Show all​</a>​,
  <a href=​"/​topics">​Show all​</a>​,
  <a href=​"/​topics?scope=starred">​Show all​</a>​,
  <a href=​"/​topics?scope=public">​Show all​</a>​
]

Longest selector:

div#main > div > div > div > div > div > div.span4.sidebar > div.block.clearfix > div.block-content > ul > li:nth-child(1) > a

@desmondw snowflake

This is a Chrome extension, not a stand-alone library.

• average speed
• uses combination of tag and class or nth-child

Longest selector:

div.span12 > div:nth-of-type(1) > div:nth-of-type(1) > ul:nth-of-type(1) > li:nth-of-type(10) > div:nth-of-type(1) > div:nth-of-type(2) > span:nth-of-type(1)

@fczbkk css-selector-generator

• supports Bower and NPM
• no dependencies
• has tests
• has documentation
• Unlicense license
• tries to use optimized ID, class, tag child selectors or their combination, uses nth-child as fallback

Longest selector:

.span12 > :nth-child(1) > .span8 > ul > :nth-child(1) > :nth-child(1)

@jhartikainen dompath

• no support for Bower or NPM
• no dependencies
• has tests
• has documentation
• no license
• very fast
• uses ID or tagg + nth-child child selector, so the selectors tend to become quite long

Longest selector:

#main > div:nth-child(1) > div:nth-child(1) > div:nth-child(1) > div:nth-child(1) > div:nth-child(1) > div:nth-child(1) > ul:nth-child(2) > li:nth-child(10) > div:nth-child(2) > div:nth-child(2) > span:nth-child(4)

@martinsbalodis css-selector

Sorry, I wasn't able to make it work.

@ngs jquery-selectorator

• supports NPM and Bower
• depends on Jquery
• has tests
• has documentation
• MIT license
• very slow
• generates selectors using Jquery's :eq() selector, so most of the results are not valid CSS selectors and are only usable within Jquery

Longest selector: n/a

@olivierrr selector-query

• supports NPM only
• no dependencies
• no tests
• has documentation
• MIT license
• quite fast
• generates the most complex descendant selector for each element (ID, class, tag, nth-child), so it produces the longest selectors among tested libraries
• WARNING: uses descendant selectors instead of child selectors, so it sometimes produces non-unique selectors

Longest selector:

#main div.container:nth-child(1) div.main-content:nth-child(1) div.row:nth-child(1) div.span12:nth-child(1) div.row:nth-child(1) div.span4.sidebar:nth-child(2) div.block.clearfix:nth-child(2) div.block-header.clearfix:nth-child(1) div.block-action:nth-child(2) a.btn.btn-success.btn-small:nth-child(1) i.icon-plus.icon-white:nth-child(1)

@rishihahs domtalk

• supports NPM only
• no dependencies
• has tests
• has documentation
• MIT license
• very fast
• uses ID or nth-child descendant selector, selectors are of average length
• WARNING: uses descendant selectors instead of child selectors, so it produces a lot of non-unique selectors

Longest selector:

#wrap *:nth-child(1) *:nth-child(1) *:nth-child(1) *:nth-child(3) *:nth-child(1) *:nth-child(1) *:nth-child(1) *:nth-child(3) *:nth-child(11) *:nth-child(1) *:nth-child(1)

@stevoland CSSelector.js

• supports NPM (claims to support Bower, but I could not find it in the registry)
• supports AMD
• no dependencies
• no tests
• has documentation
• MIT license
• very fast
• uses ID or tag + nth-child child selectors, selectors are quite long

Longest selector:

#main > DIV:nth-child(1) > DIV:nth-child(1) > DIV:nth-child(1) > DIV:nth-child(1) > DIV:nth-child(1) > DIV:nth-child(1) > UL:nth-child(2) > LI:nth-child(10) > DIV:nth-child(2) > DIV:nth-child(2) > SPAN:nth-child(4)

@thomaspeklak get-query-selector

• supports NPM only
• no dependencies
• no tests
• has documentation
• looks like BSD license
• very fast
• uses ID or nth-child child selector, selectors are of average length

Longest selector:

#wrap>:nth-child(1)>:nth-child(1)>:nth-child(1)>:nth-child(3)>:nth-child(1)>:nth-child(1)>:nth-child(1)>:nth-child(3)>:nth-child(11)>:nth-child(1)>:nth-child(1)

@tildeio selector-generator

• no NPM or Bower
• requires RequireJS
• has tests
• no documentation
• looks like MIT license
• very fast
• uses tag or tag + nth-child child selectors
• WARNING: produces a lot of non-unique selectors

Longest selector:

html > body > div > div > div > div > div > div > div > div > div:nth-of-type(2) > div:nth-of-type(2) > div:nth-of-type(2) > ul > li:nth-of-type(2) > a

TODO

It would be nice to automate the process, run the tests in PhantomJS, etc. Pull requests are welcome.

Bug reports, feature requests and contact

If you found any bugs, if you have feature requests or any questions, please, either file an issue at GitHub or send me an e-mail at riki@fczbkk.com