python - selenium find_element_by_xpath returns NoSuchElementException -

i'm working selenium im having problems find_element_by_xpath method. having tag https://citizenportal.rld.state.nm.us/default.aspx website:

<a title="permits" href="javascript:void(0);" module="permits">permits</a> 

im trying create click event click on permits tag doing:

from selenium import webdriver selenium.webdriver.common.keys import keys selenium.webdriver.common.by import  driver = webdriver.chrome() driver.get('https://citizenportal.rld.state.nm.us/default.aspx')  driver.find_element_by_xpath('//a[@title="permits"]').click() 

however im getting error , cant figure out

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- nosuchelementexception                    traceback (most recent call last) <ipython-input-25-ecbedf623e4f> in <module>()       6 driver.get('https://citizenportal.rld.state.nm.us/default.aspx')       7  ----> 8 driver.find_element_by_xpath('//a[@title="permits"]').click()       9   c:\anaconda\lib\site-packages\selenium\webdriver\remote\webdriver.pyc in find_element_by_xpath(self, xpath)     304             driver.find_element_by_xpath('//div/td[1]')     305         """ --> 306         return self.find_element(by=by.xpath, value=xpath)     307      308     def find_elements_by_xpath(self, xpath):  c:\anaconda\lib\site-packages\selenium\webdriver\remote\webdriver.pyc in find_element(self, by, value)     782         return self.execute(command.find_element, {     783             'using': by, --> 784             'value': value})['value']     785      786     def find_elements(self, by=by.id, value=none):  c:\anaconda\lib\site-packages\selenium\webdriver\remote\webdriver.pyc in execute(self, driver_command, params)     247         response = self.command_executor.execute(driver_command, params)     248         if response: --> 249             self.error_handler.check_response(response)     250             response['value'] = self._unwrap_value(     251                 response.get('value', none))  c:\anaconda\lib\site-packages\selenium\webdriver\remote\errorhandler.pyc in check_response(self, response)     191         elif exception_class == unexpectedalertpresentexception , 'alert' in value:     192             raise exception_class(message, screen, stacktrace, value['alert'].get('text')) --> 193         raise exception_class(message, screen, stacktrace)     194      195     def _value_or_default(self, obj, key, default):  nosuchelementexception: message: no such element: unable locate element: {"method":"xpath","selector":"//a[@title="permits"]"}   (session info: chrome=57.0.2987.133)   (driver info: chromedriver=2.29.461591 (62ebf098771772160f391d75e589dc567915b233),platform=windows nt 6.3.9600 x86_64) 

i've tried different combinations keeps returning error. doing wrong?

edit includes hole span , elements.

<span style="display:inline-block;" id="span_tab_1">                            <table role="presentation" tag="navbar" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="tab_bar_table aca_nowrap">                                    <tbody>             <tr>                 <td class="aca_itemleft aca_leftoff"></td>                                                   <div>                                                                <a title="permits" href="javascript:void(0);" module="permits">permits</a>                                                        </div>                 <td class="aca_itemcenter aca_itemcenter_fontsize aca_centeroff">                    </td>                                                    <td class="aca_itemright aca_rightoff"></td>                                    </tr>                         <      /tbody>     </table>                      </span> 

your xpath fine. prefer use css selectors, e.g. "a[title='permit']", since faster , better supported.

the problem element want inside iframe.

<iframe id="acaframe" name="acaframe" ... src="/welcome.aspx"> 

you need switch frame , find work.

see this page more details.