cssselect

cssselect parses CSS3 Selectors and translates them to XPath 1.0

cssselect Permissive license BSD-3-Clause Active ★ 309 v1.5.0 released 2026-07-27

Install

cssselect on PyPI

pip

pip install cssselect

uv

uv add cssselect

poetry

poetry add cssselect

Package facts

License	BSD-3-Clause (permissive)
Python support	supports the current Python release (>=3.10)
Install friction	low — pure-Python wheel
Runtime dependencies	none
Maintenance	actively maintained — 17 days since the last release
Last repo commit	2026-08-09
First released	2012-04-13
Popularity	one of the top 1,000 most-downloaded packages on PyPI (30-day window, as of 2026-08-13)
Known vulnerabilities	none known (OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-13)

Evidence: cssselect-1.5.0-py3-none-any.whl

Development Status :: 4 - BetaIntended Audience :: DevelopersProgramming Language :: Python :: 3Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13Programming Language :: Python :: 3.14Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: CPythonProgramming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: PyPy

About cssselect

from the package's own PyPI description — quoted content, verbatim

=================================== cssselect: CSS Selectors for Python ===================================

.. image:: https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/cssselect.svg :target: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/cssselect :alt: PyPI Version

.. image:: https://img.shields.io/pypi/pyversions/cssselect.svg :target: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/cssselect :alt: Supported Python Versions

.. image:: https://github.com/scrapy/cssselect/actions/workflows/tests-ubuntu.yml/badge.svg :target: https://github.com/scrapy/cssselect/actions/workflows/tests-ubuntu.yml :alt: Tests

.. image:: https://img.shields.io/codecov/c/github/scrapy/cssselect/master.svg :target: https://codecov.io/github/scrapy/cssselect?branch=master :alt: Coverage report

cssselect is a BSD-licensed Python library to parse CSS3 selectors and translate them to XPath 1.0 expressions.

XPath 1.0 expressions can be used in lxml or another XPath engine to find the matching elements in an XML or HTML document.

Find the cssselect online documentation at https://cssselect.readthedocs.io.

Quick facts:

Source, issues and pull requests on GitHub <https://github.com/scrapy/cssselect>_
Releases...

Read as markdown · JSON record · Source repository · Homepage

AI interpretation — verify before relying

AI-generated interpretation of the package facts above; every digit, version, license, or vulnerability id it cites is grounded in the facts already shown on this page

cssselect parses CSS3 selectors and translates them to XPath 1.0 expressions, enabling you to find matching elements in XML or HTML documents using familiar CSS selector syntax.

Installs cleanly with no runtime dependencies. Actively maintained with a recent release (17 days ago) and steady development on GitHub.

BSD-3-Clause is permissive and imposes minimal restrictions; you may use, modify, and distribute cssselect freely in commercial or private projects provided you retain the license notice.

Usage

pip install cssselect

from cssselect import GenericTranslator

translator = GenericTranslator()
xpath = translator.css_to_xpath('div.content > p')
print(xpath)

Requires Python 3.10 or later.

Verdict: cssselect is a lightweight, well-maintained library with zero dependencies and no known vulnerabilities. Its permissive BSD-3-Clause license and active development make it a reliable choice for converting CSS selectors to XPath in web scraping or XML processing workflows.

Needs verification

Whether the package is actively used in production by the Scrapy project or other major dependents.
Performance characteristics when handling large or complex CSS selector expressions.

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