CSS SELECTOR

CSS Selectors

In CSS, selectors are patterns used to select the element(s) you want to style.

Use our CSS Selector Tester to demonstrate the different selectors.

The "CSS" column indicates in which CSS version the property is defined (CSS1, CSS2, or CSS3).

Selector	Example	Example description	CSS
.class	.intro	Selects all elements with class="intro"	1
#id	#firstname	Selects the element with id="firstname"	1
*	*	Selects all elements	2
element	p	Selects all <p> elements	1
element,element	div, p	Selects all <div> elements and all <p> elements	1
element element	div p	Selects all <p> elements inside <div> elements	1
element>element	div > p	Selects all <p> elements where the parent is a <div> element	2
element+element	div + p	Selects all <p> elements that are placed immediately after <div> elements	2
element1~element2	p ~ ul	Selects every <ul> element that are preceded by a <p> element	3
[attribute]	[target]	Selects all elements with a target attribute	2
[attribute=value]	[target=_blank]	Selects all elements with target="_blank"	2
[attribute~=value]	[title~=flower]	Selects all elements with a title attribute containing the word "flower"	2
[attribute|=value]	[lang|=en]	Selects all elements with a lang attribute value starting with "en"	2
[attribute^=value]	a[href^="https"]	Selects every <a> element whose href attribute value begins with "https"	3
[attribute$=value]	a[href$=".pdf"]	Selects every <a> element whose href attribute value ends with ".pdf"	3
[attribute*=value]	a[href*="w3schools"]	Selects every <a> element whose href attribute value contains the substring "w3schools"	3
:active	a:active	Selects the active link	1
::after	p::after	Insert something after the content of each <p> element	2
::before	p::before	Insert something before the content of each <p> element	2
:checked	input:checked	Selects every checked <input> element	3
:disabled	input:disabled	Selects every disabled <input> element	3
:empty	p:empty	Selects every <p> element that has no children (including text nodes)	3
:enabled	input:enabled	Selects every enabled <input> element	3
:first-child	p:first-child	Selects every <p> element that is the first child of its parent	2
::first-letter	p::first-letter	Selects the first letter of every <p> element	1
::first-line	p::first-line	Selects the first line of every <p> element	1
:first-of-type	p:first-of-type	Selects every <p> element that is the first <p> element of its parent	3
:focus	input:focus	Selects the input element which has focus	2
:hover	a:hover	Selects links on mouse over	1
:in-range	input:in-range	Selects input elements with a value within a specified range	3
:invalid	input:invalid	Selects all input elements with an invalid value	3
:lang(language)	p:lang(it)	Selects every <p> element with a lang attribute equal to "it" (Italian)	2
:last-child	p:last-child	Selects every <p> element that is the last child of its parent	3
:last-of-type	p:last-of-type	Selects every <p> element that is the last <p> element of its parent	3
:link	a:link	Selects all unvisited links	1
:not(selector)	:not(p)	Selects every element that is not a <p> element	3
:nth-child(n)	p:nth-child(2)	Selects every <p> element that is the second child of its parent	3
: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	3
: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	3
:nth-of-type(n)	p:nth-of-type(2)	Selects every <p> element that is the second <p> element of its parent	3
:only-of-type	p:only-of-type	Selects every <p> element that is the only <p> element of its parent	3
:only-child	p:only-child	Selects every <p> element that is the only child of its parent	3
:optional	input:optional	Selects input elements with no "required" attribute	3
:out-of-range	input:out-of-range	Selects input elements with a value outside a specified range	3
:read-only	input:read-only	Selects input elements with the "readonly" attribute specified	3
:read-write	input:read-write	Selects input elements with the "readonly" attribute NOT specified	3
:required	input:required	Selects input elements with the "required" attribute specified	3
:root	:root	Selects the document's root element	3
::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)	3
:valid	input:valid	Selects all input elements with a valid value	3
:visited	a:visited	Selects all visited links	1