What is the difference between implicit and explicit waits in Selenium WebDriver?

Implicit waits in Selenium WebDriver are used to wait for a certain amount of time for the elements on the page to load before performing any actions on them. It is set globally for the entire WebDriver instance and is applied to every element that WebDriver interacts with.

On the other hand, explicit waits are used to wait for a specific condition to be met before proceeding with the execution of the test script. It is used selectively on specific elements or conditions only.

When to use each type of wait?

• Implicit wait: Use implicit waits when you want to wait for a certain amount of time for elements to load across the entire test script. It is a good practice to set a reasonable timeout value to avoid unnecessary delays in the test execution.
• Explicit wait: Use explicit waits when you want to wait for a specific condition to be met before interacting with an element. This can be useful in scenarios where elements load asynchronously or have dynamic loading times.