How do I assert the page title in Playwright?

Use await expect(page).toHaveTitle(...) with the exact title as a string, or a regular expression for part of it. It retries, so it waits for the title of a page that is still loading.

This answer is one piece of Chapter 11: Assertions.

Web-First Assertions Cookbook
Retry & Polling Patterns
Visual Regression Testing
Making a Failure Explain Itself

The title is the text in the browser tab, set by the page's <title> element. It is a quick check that a navigation landed on the right page.

Two patterns go wrong. expect(page.title()).toBe('...') compares a Promise with a string, because page.title() is async. expect(await page.title()).toBe('...') works, but reads the title once, so straight after a click it may still hold the old page's title. toHaveTitle() avoids both: it retries until the title matches or the assertion timeout runs out.

In the example:

On the catalogue, the test checks the exact title, Catalog - Meridian Ops.
It then clicks the Orders link in the main navigation and checks /^Orders/, a regular expression that only cares how the title starts.

Use a string when the whole title matters. Use a regular expression when part of it changes, such as a site name or a count.

title.spec.js(https://practice.learnplayforge.com)

import { test, expect } from '@playwright/test';

test('each page sets its own title', async ({ page }) => {
  await page.goto('/catalog.html?mock=static&seed=42&autologin=1');
  await expect(page).toHaveTitle('Catalog - Meridian Ops');

  await page.getByRole('link', { name: 'Orders', exact: true }).click();
  await expect(page).toHaveTitle(/^Orders/);
});

Output

1 passed (1.5s)

Test yourself

The tab reads Orders - Meridian Ops. Which assertion passes?

Practised in the full course: the drill A string is not a Promise.

See the chapter

AI can write the test now. The job is knowing whether it checks anything. That's what the course teaches, one chapter at a time.

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How do I assert the page title in Playwright?

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