How to check that a value is set on a dropdown box selenium java -

i have html code. thing option names contain lots of spaces until tags closed.

<select name="auth" id="auth" size=1 onchange="updatepagestate()"> <option value="0">open system </option> <option value="1">wep </option> <option value="2">wpa </option> <option value="3">wpa2 </option> 

i want check option selected in dropdown box using selenium in java. code:

try {     webdriverwait wait = new webdriverwait(driver, 20);     wait.until(expectedconditions.texttobepresentinelementvalue(((by.xpath("//select [@id='auth']/option['" + authen + "']"))), authen));     system.out.println("authentification correct"); } catch (exception x) {     system.out.println("authentification incorrect");     x.printstacktrace(); } 

where "authen" variable read file corresponds options in dropdown box.

i following error message:

org.openqa.selenium.timeoutexception: timed out after 20 seconds waiting text ('wpa2') value of element located by.xpath: //select [@id='auth']/option['wpa2']

any on how check if string contains partial text? cannot use method .contains because it's of type boolean , .texttobepresentinelementvalue needs have second attribute type string.

maybe easier select webelement less complex @findby expression , wrap element in select provides method first selected option. can comparison.

take at:

https://selenium.googlecode.com/git/docs/api/java/org/openqa/selenium/support/ui/select.html