diff --git a/packages/playwright-core/src/client/locator.ts b/packages/playwright-core/src/client/locator.ts
index 553ab3561e..50cb762e37 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-core/src/client/locator.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-core/src/client/locator.ts
@@ -19,12 +19,12 @@ import type * as api from '../../types/types';
 import type * as channels from '@protocol/channels';
 import type { ParsedStackTrace } from '../utils/stackTrace';
 import * as util from 'util';
-import { isRegExp, isString, monotonicTime } from '../utils';
+import { isString, monotonicTime } from '../utils';
 import { ElementHandle } from './elementHandle';
 import type { Frame } from './frame';
 import type { FilePayload, FrameExpectOptions, Rect, SelectOption, SelectOptionOptions, TimeoutOptions } from './types';
 import { parseResult, serializeArgument } from './jsHandle';
-import { escapeWithQuotes } from '../utils/isomorphic/stringUtils';
+import { escapeForAttributeSelector, escapeForTextSelector } from '../utils/isomorphic/stringUtils';
 
 export type LocatorOptions = {
   hasText?: string | RegExp;
@@ -58,15 +58,11 @@ export class Locator implements api.Locator {
   private static getByAttributeTextSelector(attrName: string, text: string | RegExp, options?: { exact?: boolean }): string {
     if (!isString(text))
       return `attr=[${attrName}=${text}]`;
-    return `attr=[${attrName}=${JSON.stringify(text)}${options?.exact ? 's' : 'i'}]`;
+    return `attr=[${attrName}=${escapeForAttributeSelector(text)}${options?.exact ? 's' : 'i'}]`;
   }
 
   static getByLabelSelector(text: string | RegExp, options?: { exact?: boolean }): string {
-    if (!isString(text))
-      return `text=${text}`;
-    const escaped = JSON.stringify(text);
-    const selector = options?.exact ? `text=${escaped}` : `text=${escaped.substring(1, escaped.length - 1)}`;
-    return selector +  ' >> control=resolve-label';
+    return Locator.getByTextSelector(text, options) + ' >> control=resolve-label';
   }
 
   static getByAltTextSelector(text: string | RegExp, options?: { exact?: boolean }): string {
@@ -82,11 +78,7 @@ export class Locator implements api.Locator {
   }
 
   static getByTextSelector(text: string | RegExp, options?: { exact?: boolean }): string {
-    if (!isString(text))
-      return `text=${text}`;
-    const escaped = JSON.stringify(text);
-    const selector = options?.exact ? `text=${escaped}` : `text=${escaped.substring(1, escaped.length - 1)}`;
-    return selector;
+    return 'text=' + escapeForTextSelector(text, !!options?.exact);
   }
 
   static getByRoleSelector(role: string, options: ByRoleOptions = {}): string {
@@ -104,7 +96,7 @@ export class Locator implements api.Locator {
     if (options.level !== undefined)
       props.push(['level', String(options.level)]);
     if (options.name !== undefined)
-      props.push(['name', isString(options.name) ? escapeWithQuotes(options.name, '"') : String(options.name)]);
+      props.push(['name', isString(options.name) ? escapeForAttributeSelector(options.name) : String(options.name)]);
     if (options.pressed !== undefined)
       props.push(['pressed', String(options.pressed)]);
     return `role=${role}${props.map(([n, v]) => `[${n}=${v}]`).join('')}`;
@@ -115,11 +107,8 @@ export class Locator implements api.Locator {
     this._selector = selector;
 
     if (options?.hasText) {
-      const text = options.hasText;
-      if (isRegExp(text))
-        this._selector += ` >> has=${JSON.stringify('text=' + text.toString())}`;
-      else
-        this._selector += ` >> :scope:has-text(${escapeWithQuotes(text, '"')})`;
+      const textSelector = 'text=' + escapeForTextSelector(options.hasText, false);
+      this._selector += ` >> has=${JSON.stringify(textSelector)}`;
     }
 
     if (options?.has) {
diff --git a/packages/playwright-core/src/server/injected/consoleApi.ts b/packages/playwright-core/src/server/injected/consoleApi.ts
index 64d7db02c6..cea839dd74 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-core/src/server/injected/consoleApi.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-core/src/server/injected/consoleApi.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 
-import { escapeWithQuotes } from '../../utils/isomorphic/stringUtils';
+import { escapeForTextSelector } from '../../utils/isomorphic/stringUtils';
 import { type InjectedScript } from './injectedScript';
 import { generateSelector } from './selectorGenerator';
 
@@ -27,11 +27,8 @@ function createLocator(injectedScript: InjectedScript, initial: string, options?
     constructor(selector: string, options?: { hasText?: string | RegExp, has?: Locator }) {
       this.selector = selector;
       if (options?.hasText) {
-        const text = options.hasText;
-        if (text instanceof RegExp)
-          this.selector += ` >> :scope:text-matches(${escapeWithQuotes(text.source, '"')}, "${text.flags}")`;
-        else
-          this.selector += ` >> :scope:has-text(${escapeWithQuotes(text)})`;
+        const textSelector = 'text=' + escapeForTextSelector(options.hasText, false);
+        this.selector += ` >> has=${JSON.stringify(textSelector)}`;
       }
       if (options?.has)
         this.selector += ` >> has=` + JSON.stringify(options.has.selector);
diff --git a/packages/playwright-core/src/server/injected/selectorGenerator.ts b/packages/playwright-core/src/server/injected/selectorGenerator.ts
index 5709791bf7..35ab65efe8 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-core/src/server/injected/selectorGenerator.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-core/src/server/injected/selectorGenerator.ts
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 
+import { cssEscape, escapeForAttributeSelector, escapeForTextSelector } from '../../utils/isomorphic/stringUtils';
 import { type InjectedScript } from './injectedScript';
 import { getAriaRole, getElementAccessibleName } from './roleUtils';
 import { elementText } from './selectorUtils';
@@ -147,7 +148,7 @@ function buildCandidates(element: Element, accessibleNameCache: Map<Element, boo
   const candidates: SelectorToken[] = [];
 
   if (element.getAttribute('data-testid'))
-    candidates.push({ engine: 'attr', selector: `[data-testid=${quoteAttributeValue(element.getAttribute('data-testid')!)}]`, score: 1 });
+    candidates.push({ engine: 'attr', selector: `[data-testid=${escapeForAttributeSelector(element.getAttribute('data-testid')!)}]`, score: 1 });
 
   for (const attr of ['data-test-id', 'data-test']) {
     if (element.getAttribute(attr))
@@ -157,20 +158,20 @@ function buildCandidates(element: Element, accessibleNameCache: Map<Element, boo
   if (element.nodeName === 'INPUT') {
     const input = element as HTMLInputElement;
     if (input.placeholder)
-      candidates.push({ engine: 'attr', selector: `[placeholder=${quoteAttributeValue(input.placeholder)}]`, score: 3 });
+      candidates.push({ engine: 'attr', selector: `[placeholder=${escapeForAttributeSelector(input.placeholder)}]`, score: 3 });
   }
 
   const ariaRole = getAriaRole(element);
   if (ariaRole) {
     const ariaName = getElementAccessibleName(element, false, accessibleNameCache);
     if (ariaName)
-      candidates.push({ engine: 'role', selector: `${ariaRole}[name=${quoteAttributeValue(ariaName)}]`, score: 3 });
+      candidates.push({ engine: 'role', selector: `${ariaRole}[name=${escapeForAttributeSelector(ariaName)}]`, score: 3 });
     else
       candidates.push({ engine: 'role', selector: ariaRole, score: 150 });
   }
 
   if (element.getAttribute('alt') && ['APPLET', 'AREA', 'IMG', 'INPUT'].includes(element.nodeName))
-    candidates.push({ engine: 'attr', selector: `[alt=${quoteAttributeValue(element.getAttribute('alt')!)}]`, score: 10 });
+    candidates.push({ engine: 'attr', selector: `[alt=${escapeForAttributeSelector(element.getAttribute('alt')!)}]`, score: 10 });
 
   if (element.getAttribute('name') && ['BUTTON', 'FORM', 'FIELDSET', 'FRAME', 'IFRAME', 'INPUT', 'KEYGEN', 'OBJECT', 'OUTPUT', 'SELECT', 'TEXTAREA', 'MAP', 'META', 'PARAM'].includes(element.nodeName))
     candidates.push({ engine: 'css', selector: `${cssEscape(element.nodeName.toLowerCase())}[name=${quoteAttributeValue(element.getAttribute('name')!)}]`, score: 50 });
@@ -199,9 +200,7 @@ function buildTextCandidates(injectedScript: InjectedScript, element: Element, i
     return [];
   const candidates: SelectorToken[] = [];
 
-  let escaped = text;
-  if (text.includes('"') || text.includes('>>') || text[0] === '/')
-    escaped = `/.*${escapeForRegex(text)}.*/`;
+  const escaped = escapeForTextSelector(text, false, true);
 
   if (isTargetNode)
     candidates.push({ engine: 'text', selector: escaped, score: 10 });
@@ -304,10 +303,6 @@ function cssFallback(injectedScript: InjectedScript, targetElement: Element, str
   return makeStrict(uniqueCSSSelector()!);
 }
 
-function escapeForRegex(text: string): string {
-  return text.replace(/[.*+?^>${}()|[\]\\]/g, '\\$&');
-}
-
 function quoteAttributeValue(text: string): string {
   return `"${cssEscape(text).replace(/\\ /g, ' ')}"`;
 }
@@ -387,26 +382,3 @@ function isGuidLike(id: string): boolean {
   }
   return transitionCount >= id.length / 4;
 }
-
-function cssEscape(s: string): string {
-  let result = '';
-  for (let i = 0; i < s.length; i++)
-    result += cssEscapeOne(s, i);
-  return result;
-}
-
-function cssEscapeOne(s: string, i: number): string {
-  // https://drafts.csswg.org/cssom/#serialize-an-identifier
-  const c = s.charCodeAt(i);
-  if (c === 0x0000)
-    return '\uFFFD';
-  if ((c >= 0x0001 && c <= 0x001f) ||
-      (c >= 0x0030 && c <= 0x0039 && (i === 0 || (i === 1 && s.charCodeAt(0) === 0x002d))))
-    return '\\' + c.toString(16) + ' ';
-  if (i === 0 && c === 0x002d && s.length === 1)
-    return '\\' + s.charAt(i);
-  if (c >= 0x0080 || c === 0x002d || c === 0x005f || (c >= 0x0030 && c <= 0x0039) ||
-      (c >= 0x0041 && c <= 0x005a) || (c >= 0x0061 && c <= 0x007a))
-    return s.charAt(i);
-  return '\\' + s.charAt(i);
-}
diff --git a/packages/playwright-core/src/utils/isomorphic/stringUtils.ts b/packages/playwright-core/src/utils/isomorphic/stringUtils.ts
index e82e1890ed..8f0727732f 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-core/src/utils/isomorphic/stringUtils.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-core/src/utils/isomorphic/stringUtils.ts
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 
+// NOTE: this function should not be used to escape any selectors.
 export function escapeWithQuotes(text: string, char: string = '\'') {
   const stringified = JSON.stringify(text);
   const escapedText = stringified.substring(1, stringified.length - 1).replace(/\\"/g, '"');
@@ -29,3 +30,48 @@ export function escapeWithQuotes(text: string, char: string = '\'') {
 export function toTitleCase(name: string) {
   return name.charAt(0).toUpperCase() + name.substring(1);
 }
+
+export function cssEscape(s: string): string {
+  let result = '';
+  for (let i = 0; i < s.length; i++)
+    result += cssEscapeOne(s, i);
+  return result;
+}
+
+function cssEscapeOne(s: string, i: number): string {
+  // https://drafts.csswg.org/cssom/#serialize-an-identifier
+  const c = s.charCodeAt(i);
+  if (c === 0x0000)
+    return '\uFFFD';
+  if ((c >= 0x0001 && c <= 0x001f) ||
+      (c >= 0x0030 && c <= 0x0039 && (i === 0 || (i === 1 && s.charCodeAt(0) === 0x002d))))
+    return '\\' + c.toString(16) + ' ';
+  if (i === 0 && c === 0x002d && s.length === 1)
+    return '\\' + s.charAt(i);
+  if (c >= 0x0080 || c === 0x002d || c === 0x005f || (c >= 0x0030 && c <= 0x0039) ||
+      (c >= 0x0041 && c <= 0x005a) || (c >= 0x0061 && c <= 0x007a))
+    return s.charAt(i);
+  return '\\' + s.charAt(i);
+}
+
+function escapeForRegex(text: string): string {
+  return text.replace(/[.*+?^>${}()|[\]\\]/g, '\\$&');
+}
+
+export function escapeForTextSelector(text: string | RegExp, exact: boolean, caseSensitive = false): string {
+  if (typeof text !== 'string')
+    return String(text);
+  if (exact)
+    return '"' + text.replace(/["]/g, '\\"') + '"';
+  if (text.includes('"') || text.includes('>>') || text[0] === '/')
+    return `/.*${escapeForRegex(text).replace(/\s+/, '\\s+')}.*/` + (caseSensitive ? '' : 'i');
+  return text;
+}
+
+export function escapeForAttributeSelector(value: string): string {
+  // TODO: this should actually be
+  //   cssEscape(value).replace(/\\ /g, ' ')
+  // However, our attribute selectors do not conform to CSS parsing spec,
+  // so we escape them differently.
+  return `"${value.replace(/["]/g, '\\"')}"`;
+}
diff --git a/tests/library/selector-generator.spec.ts b/tests/library/selector-generator.spec.ts
index 87424d453d..d6358c1738 100644
--- a/tests/library/selector-generator.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/library/selector-generator.spec.ts
@@ -319,7 +319,8 @@ it.describe('selector generator', () => {
 
     await page.setContent(`<button><span></span></button><button></button>`);
     await page.$eval('button', button => button.setAttribute('aria-label', `!#'!?:`));
-    expect(await generate(page, 'button')).toBe("role=button[name=\"\\!\\#\\'\\!\\?\\:\"]");
+    expect(await generate(page, 'button')).toBe(`role=button[name="!#'!?:"]`);
+    expect(await page.$(`role=button[name="!#'!?:"]`)).toBeTruthy();
 
     await page.setContent(`<div><span></span></div>`);
     await page.$eval('div', div => div.id = `!#'!?:`);
diff --git a/tests/page/locator-query.spec.ts b/tests/page/locator-query.spec.ts
index 80e477254d..cd8e789898 100644
--- a/tests/page/locator-query.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/page/locator-query.spec.ts
@@ -180,3 +180,31 @@ it('alias methods coverage', async ({ page }) => {
   await expect(page.locator('div').getByRole('button')).toHaveCount(1);
   await expect(page.mainFrame().locator('button')).toHaveCount(1);
 });
+
+it('getBy escaping', async ({ page }) => {
+  await page.setContent(`<label id=label for=control>Hello
+wo"rld</label><input id=control />`);
+  await page.$eval('input', input => {
+    input.setAttribute('placeholder', 'hello\nwo"rld');
+    input.setAttribute('title', 'hello\nwo"rld');
+    input.setAttribute('alt', 'hello\nwo"rld');
+  });
+  await expect(page.getByText('hello\nwo"rld')).toHaveAttribute('id', 'label');
+  await expect(page.getByLabel('hello\nwo"rld')).toHaveAttribute('id', 'control');
+  await expect(page.getByPlaceholder('hello\nwo"rld')).toHaveAttribute('id', 'control');
+  await expect(page.getByAltText('hello\nwo"rld')).toHaveAttribute('id', 'control');
+  await expect(page.getByTitle('hello\nwo"rld')).toHaveAttribute('id', 'control');
+
+  await page.setContent(`<label id=label for=control>Hello
+world</label><input id=control />`);
+  await page.$eval('input', input => {
+    input.setAttribute('placeholder', 'hello\nworld');
+    input.setAttribute('title', 'hello\nworld');
+    input.setAttribute('alt', 'hello\nworld');
+  });
+  await expect(page.getByText('hello\nworld')).toHaveAttribute('id', 'label');
+  await expect(page.getByLabel('hello\nworld')).toHaveAttribute('id', 'control');
+  await expect(page.getByPlaceholder('hello\nworld')).toHaveAttribute('id', 'control');
+  await expect(page.getByAltText('hello\nworld')).toHaveAttribute('id', 'control');
+  await expect(page.getByTitle('hello\nworld')).toHaveAttribute('id', 'control');
+});
diff --git a/tests/page/selectors-get-by.spec.ts b/tests/page/selectors-get-by.spec.ts
index 547ee3e5d3..70af9e14ad 100644
--- a/tests/page/selectors-get-by.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/page/selectors-get-by.spec.ts
@@ -35,6 +35,9 @@ it('getByText should work', async ({ page }) => {
 
   await page.setContent(`<div> ye </div><div>ye</div>`);
   expect(await page.getByText('ye', { exact: true }).first().evaluate(e => e.outerHTML)).toContain('> ye </div>');
+
+  await page.setContent(`<div>Hello world</div><div>Hello</div>`);
+  expect(await page.getByText('Hello', { exact: true }).evaluate(e => e.outerHTML)).toBe('<div>Hello</div>');
 });
 
 it('getByLabel should work', async ({ page }) => {
diff --git a/tests/page/selectors-text.spec.ts b/tests/page/selectors-text.spec.ts
index ff57d6dcee..e32d556fa9 100644
--- a/tests/page/selectors-text.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/page/selectors-text.spec.ts
@@ -238,6 +238,12 @@ it('should work with :has-text', async ({ page }) => {
   expect(await page.$eval(`div:has-text("find me") :has-text("maybe me")`, e => e.tagName)).toBe('WRAP');
   expect(await page.$eval(`div:has-text("find me") span:has-text("maybe me")`, e => e.id)).toBe('span2');
 
+  await page.setContent(`<div id=me>hello
+  wo"r>>ld</div>`);
+  expect(await page.$eval(`div:has-text("hello wo\\"r>>ld")`, e => e.id)).toBe('me');
+  expect(await page.$eval(`div:has-text("hello\\a wo\\"r>>ld")`, e => e.id)).toBe('me');
+  expect(await page.locator('div', { hasText: 'hello\nwo"r>>ld' }).getAttribute('id')).toBe('me');
+
   const error1 = await page.$(`:has-text("foo", "bar")`).catch(e => e);
   expect(error1.message).toContain(`"has-text" engine expects a single string`);
   const error2 = await page.$(`:has-text(foo > bar)`).catch(e => e);