CSS Selectors
CSS Selectors are patterns used in CSS to select and target HTML elements so that styles can be applied to them. They define which elements on a web page should receive specific styling rules.
- Used to select HTML elements based on tag name, class, id, or attributes.
- Help apply styles like color, font, spacing, and layout.
- Make web pages structured, consistent, and visually appealing.
CSS selectors are commonly grouped into five main categories:
1. Basic Selectors
Basic selectors in CSS are simple tools used for selecting by HTML element name (e.g., h1), class (.class Name), ID (#idName), or universally (* for all elements).
1. Universal Selector (*): Selects all elements on the page and applies the same style universally.
Example: Setting the font color for every element.
<html>
<head>
<style>
* {
color: red;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Header Text</h1>
<p>Paragraph Text</p>
</body>
</html>
2. Element Selector: Targets all elements of a specific type, such as paragraphs or headers.
Example: Setting a common font size for all paragraphs
<html>
<head>
<style>
p {
font-size: 16px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<p>This paragraph styled with font size 16px.</p>
</body>
</html>
3. Class Selector (.): Applies styles to elements with a specific class attribute.
Example: Making all buttons have a blue background.
<html>
<head>
<style>
.button {
background-color: blue;
color: white;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<button class="button">Click Me!</button>
</body>
</html>
4. ID Selector (#): Styles a single element identified by its unique id.
Example: changing the background color of a header.
<html>
<head>
<style>
#header {
background-color: gray;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div id="header">This is the header section.</div>
</body>
</html>
2. Combinator Selectors
Used to define relationships between selectors, allowing you to style elements based on their hierarchy or positioning in the document. Common combinators include descendant ( ), child (>), adjacent sibling (+), and general sibling (~).
1. Descendant Selectors: Targets an element inside another, such as paragraphs inside div .
Example: Styling paragraphs inside a div.
<html>
<head>
<style>
div p {
color: red;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div>
<p>This paragraph inside a div will be red.</p>
</div>
</body>
</html>
2. Child Selector (>): They only affects the direct child elements of a parent.
Example: Styling direct children paragraphs of a div.
<html>
<head>
<style>
div>p {
margin-left: 20px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div>
<p>This is a direct child and has a left margin.</p>
<div>
<p>This is not a direct child.</p>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>
3. Adjacent Sibling Selector (+): Styles an element immediately following another .
Example: Making the first paragraph bold after an h1.
<html>
<head>
<style>
h1+p {
font-weight: bold;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1>This is a header.</h1>
<p>This is immediately following the header and is bold.</p>
<p>This will not be bold.</p>
</body>
</html>
4. General Sibling Selector (~): Styles all siblings that follow a specific element.
Example: Italicizing all paragraphs following an h1.
<html>
<head>
<style>
h1~p {
font-style: italic;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1>This is a header.</h1>
<p>This is a sibling of the header and will be italicized.</p>
<p>This will also be italicized because it's a sibling of the header.</p>
</body>
</html>
3. Attribute Selectors
Attribute selectors in CSS target elements based on the presence or value of their attributes.
1. Presence Selector: It selects elements that contain a specific attribute.
Example: styling all inputs with a type attribute.
<html>
<head>
<style>
input[type] {
border: 2px solid black;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<input type="text" placeholder="Text input">
<input type="number" placeholder="Number input">
</body>
</html>
2. Attribute Value Selector: It targets elements with a particular attribute value.
Example: Styling text inputs.
<html>
<head>
<style>
input[type="text"] {
background-color: yellow;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<input type="text" placeholder="Text input">
<input type="password" placeholder="Password input">
</body>
</html>
3. Substring Matching(^=): It matches elements where the attribute contains a substring.
Example: Styling links with https in their href.
<html>
<head>
<style>
a[href^="https"] {
color: green;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<a href="https://example.com/">Secure link</a>
<a href="http://example.com/">Non-secure link</a>
</body>
</html>
4. Wildcard Selector (*=): Matches elements where the attribute value contains a specific string.
Example: Underlining links with example in the URL.
<html>
<head>
<style>
a[href*="example"] {
text-decoration: underline;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<a href="https://example.com/">This contains 'example' and is underlined.</a>
<a href="https://otherlink.com">This is not underlined.</a>
</body>
</html>
5. Ends With Selector ($=): Matches elements whose attribute value ends with a specific string.
Example: Styling links that end with .pdf in their URL.
<style>
a[href$=".pdf"] {
color: red;
}
</style>
- Word Match Selector (~=): Matches elements whose attribute contains a specific whole word (space-separated).
Example: Styling elements that have the class highlight among multiple class names.
<style>
p[class~="highlight"] {
background: yellow;
}
</style>
- Hyphen Match Selector (|=): Matches elements whose attribute value starts with a word followed by a hyphen.
Example: Styling elements with language attributes like en or en-US.
<style>
p[lang|="en"] {
color: blue;
}
</style>
4. Pseudo-Classes
Pseudo-classes in CSS define the special states of elements for styling.
- :hover: Styles elements when the user hovers over them.
Example: Changing the color of a link when hovered.
<html>
<head>
<style>
a:hover {
color: red;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<a href="https://example.com/">Hover over this to see the effect.</a>
</body>
</html>
- :focus: Styles the elements when the user focus on any particular element.
<html>
<head>
<style>
input:focus {
outline: 3px solid red;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<input type="text">
</body>
</html>
- :first-child: Styles the element which is the first child of it's parent.
<html><head></head>
<style>
p:first-child {
color: brown;
}
</style>
<body>
<div>
<p>Hello1</p>
<p>Hello2</p>
</div>
</body></html>
- :last-child: Style's the element which is the last child of it's parent.
<html><head></head>
<style>
p:last-child {
color:green;
}
</style>
<body>
<div>
<p>Hello1</p>
<p>Hello2</p>
</div>
</body></html>
- :not: Helps to remove a particular element from the styling index or styling context.
<html><head></head>
<style>
p:not(.one) {
color: blue;
}
</style>
<body>
<div>
<p class="one">Hello1</p>
<p class="two">Hello2</p>
</div>
</body></html>
5. Pseudo-Elements
Pseudo-elements allow you to target and style specific parts of an element, such as inserting content before or after it.
They can be used to style parts of text, like the first letter or line of a paragraph.
Pseudo-elements are commonly used to enhance and beautify the internal content of elements.
- ::before: To insert some content before an element.
<html><head></head>
<style>
h1::before {
content: "★ "
}
</style>
<body>
<h1 tabindex="0">Welcome to GFG</h1>
</body></html>
- ::after: To insert some content after an element.
<html><head></head>
<style>
h1::after {
content: "☀ ";
color: orangered;
}
</style>
<body>
<h1 tabindex="0">Welcome to GFG</h1>
</body></html>
- ::first-line: Styles the first line of text within a block element. Line breaks mark the beginning of a new line.
<html><head></head>
<style>
p::first-line {
color: red;
}
</style>
<body>
<p>Welcome to GFG<br>
Hello GFG</p>
</body>
</html>
- ::first-letter: It Styles the first-letter of a word or a sentence.
<html><head></head>
<style>
p::first-letter {
color: red;
font-size: 23px;
}
</style>
<body>
<p>Welcome to GFG</p>
</body></html>
- ::placeholder: Styles the placeholder of a specific input field.
<html><head></head>
<style>
input::placeholder {
font-size: 20x;
font-family: sans-serif;
font-weight: 900;
}
</style>
<body>
<input type="text" placeholder="Enter your name">
</body></html>
References:
https://www.w3schools.com/css/css_howto.asp
https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/css/css-selectors/
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Reference/Selectors/Type_selectors
https://www.programiz.com/css/units
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