CSS Selectors with Example
CSS Selector
Selectors are one of the most important aspects of CSS as they are used to select elements on a web page so that they can be styled. You can define selectors in various ways.
A CSS selector is a pattern to match the elements in an HTML document. The associated style rules is applied to the elements that match the selector pattern.
There are many different types of selectors in CSS, some of the important selectors are as shown below :
i). CSS Element Selector:
An Element Selector can apply the style by selecting the defined element,attributes, or tags directly.
example
Output:
This is blue color and will be applied on each paragraph. ha.ha.ha. me too even i too
ii). CSS Id Slector:
The id selector selects the id attribute of an HTML element to select a specific element. An id is always unique within the page so it is chosen to select a single, unique element.
It is selected with the hash character (#),
Example:
Output:
Welcome to aimtocode.com
This paragraph will not be affected.
iii). CSS Class Selector
The class selector selects HTML elements with a specific class attribute. It is used with a period character .
Example:
Output:
This Text is blue and center-aligned.
This paragraph is also blue and center-aligned.
iv). CSS Universal Selector:
Universal Selector is used to select the over all element present in the body page, it means Universal selector perfom the operation of selection of all element in the web page.
Example :
Output:
This is heading
This style will be applied on every paragraph.
Me too!
And me!
v). CSS Group Selector:
The grouping selector is used to select all the elements with the same style definitions. Grouping selector is used to minimize the code. Commas are used to separate each selector in grouping.
Example :
Output:
Hello World
Welcome to aimtocode.com (This is In smaller font)
This is a paragraph.
CSS Selectors
In CSS, selectors are patterns used to select the element(s) you want to style.
| Selector | Example | Example description |
|---|---|---|
| class | .intro | Selects all elements with class="intro" |
| .class1.class2 | <div class="name1 name2">...</div> | Selects all elements with both name1 and name2 set within its class attribute |
| .class1 .class2 | <div class="name1"> <div class="name2"> ... </div> </div> |
Selects all elements with name2 that is a descendant of an element with name1 |
| #id | #firstname | Selects the element with id="firstname" |
| * | * | Selects all elements |
| element | p | Selects all <p> elements |
| element,element | div, p | Selects all <div> elements and all <p> elements |
| element element | div p | Selects all <p> elements inside <div> elements |
| element>element | div > p | Selects all <p> elements where the parent is a <div> element |
| element+element | div + p | Selects all <p> elements that are placed immediately after <div> elements |
| element1~element2 | p ~ ul | Selects every <ul> element that are preceded by a <p> element |
| [attribute] | [target] | Selects all elements with a target attribute |
| [attribute=value] | [target=_blank] | Selects all elements with target="_blank" |
| [attribute~=value] | [title~=flower] | Selects all elements with a title attribute containing the word "flower" |
| [attribute|=value] | [lang|=en] | Selects all elements with a lang attribute value starting with "en" |
| [attribute^=value] | a[href^="https"] | Selects every <a> element whose href attribute value begins with "https" |
| [attribute$=value] | a[href$=".pdf"] | Selects every <a> element whose href attribute value ends with ".pdf" |
| [attribute*=value] | a[href*="w3schools"] | Selects every <a> element whose href attribute value contains the substring "w3schools" |
| :active | a:active | Selects the active link |
| ::after | p::after | Insert something after the content of each <p> element |
| ::before | p::before | Insert something before the content of each <p> element |
| :checked | input:checked | Selects every checked <input> element |
| :default | input:default | Selects the default <input> element |
| :disabled | input:disabled | Selects every disabled <input> element |
| :empty | p:empty | Selects every <p> element that has no children (including text nodes) |
| :enabled | input:enabled | Selects every enabled <input> element |
| :first-child | p:first-child | Selects every <p> element that is the first child of its parent |
| ::first-letter | p::first-letter | Selects the first letter of every <p> element |
| >::first-line | p::first-line | Selects the first line of every <p> element |
| :first-of-type | p:first-of-type | Selects every <p> element that is the first <p> element of its parent |
| :focus | input:focus | Selects the input element which has focus |
| :hover | a:hover | Selects links on mouse over |
| :in-range | input:in-range | Selects input elements with a value within a specified range |
| :indeterminate | input:indeterminate | Selects input elements that are in an indeterminate state |
| :invalid | input:invalid | Selects all input elements with an invalid value |
| :lang(language) | p:lang(it) | Selects every <p> element with a lang attribute equal to "it" (Italian) |
| :last-child | p:last-child | Selects every <p> element that is the last child of its parent |
| :last-of-type | p:last-of-type | Selects every <p> element that is the last <p> element of its parent |
| :link | a:link | Selects all unvisited links |
| :not(selector) | :not(p) | Selects every element that is not a <p> element |
| :nth-child(n) | p:nth-child(2) | Selects every <p> element that is the second child of its parent |
| :nth-last-child(n) | p:nth-last-child(2) | Selects every <p> element that is the second child of its parent, counting from the last child |
| :nth-last-of-type(n) | p:nth-last-of-type(2) | Selects every <p> element that is the second <p> element of its parent, counting from the last child |
| :nth-of-type(n) | p:nth-of-type(2) | Selects every <p> element that is the second <p> element of its parent |
| :only-of-type | p:only-of-type | Selects every <p> element that is the only <p> element of its parent |
| :only-child | p:only-child | Selects every <p> element that is the only child of its parent |
| :optional | input:optional | Selects input elements with no "required" attribute |
| :out-of-range | input:out-of-range | Selects input elements with a value outside a specified range |
| ::placeholder | input::placeholder | Selects input elements with placeholder text |
| :read-only | input:read-only | Selects input elements with the "readonly" attribute specified |
| >:read-write | input:read-write | Selects input elements with the "readonly" attribute NOT specified |
| :required | input:required | Selects input elements with the "required" attribute specified |
| :root | :root | Selects the document's root element |
| ::selection | ::selection | Selects the portion of an element that is selected by a user |
| :target | #news:target | Selects the current active #news element (clicked on a URL containing that anchor name) |
| :valid | input:valid | Selects all input elements with a valid value |
| :visited | a:visited | Selects all visited links |