Originally posted on my blog
Selectors in CSS are used to pick elements and style them. They can be very powerful following which one we use. In this post, I will lead you through 6 powerful CSS selectors that will really help you write clean CSS on your next project.
1. div > a
This selector will enable us to select all a element where the parent element is a div tag.
<!-- This one will be selected -->
<div>
<a></a>
</div>
<!-- This one will not be selected -->
<p>
<a></a>
</p>
2. div + a
This one will select every a tag placed immediately after a div element. If we have an element between the div and the a tag, that element won't be selected.
<main>
<!-- This one will be selected -->
<div></div>
<a></a>
<!-- This one will be not selected -->
<div></div>
<p></p>
<a></a>
</main>
3. div ~ a
This one will select every a tag preceded by a div element on the same level. In other words, if the a tag is not immediately preceded by a div element, but has a div tag as a sibling element, that element will be selected.
<main>
<!-- This one will be selected -->
<div></div>
<a></a>
<!-- This one will be selected -->
<div></div>
<p></p>
<a></a>
<section>
<!-- This one will be selected -->
<div></div>
<p></p>
<a></a>
</section>
<footer>
<!-- This one will be not selected -->
<p></p>
<a></a>
</footer>
</main>
4. [attribute^=value]
e.g: [class^="list-"]
This selector will pick every element that contains a class attribute and its value begins with list-
<main>
<!-- This one will be selected -->
<div class="list-element"></div>
<!-- This one will be selected -->
<div class="list-container"></div>
<!-- This one will be selected -->
<div class="list-item"></div>
<!-- This one will be not selected -->
<div class="list__footer"></div>
</main>
5. [attribute$=value]
e.g: [src$=".png"]
This one will select every src attribute where its value ends with .png.
<div>
<!-- This one will be selected -->
<img src="image1.png">
<!-- This one will be not selected -->
<img src="image2.jpg">
<!-- This one will be selected -->
<img src="image3.png">
<!-- This one will be not selected -->
<img src="image4.svg">
</div>
6. [attribute*=value]
e.g: [class*="-list"]
This selector will pick every element whose class attribute contains -list. It does not matter if -list is at the beginning, the middle or at the end of the class's value. The most important is that the value must contain -list.
<main>
<!-- This one will be selected -->
<div class="main-list-container"></div>
<!-- This one will be selected -->
<div class="primary-list"></div>
<!-- This one will be selected -->
<div class="primary-list-item"></div>
<!-- This one will be not selected -->
<div class="list-footer"></div>
</main>
Conclusion
Sometimes it's really tough to find the needed element to style due to the fact that our CSS file can be overkill very quick. And using this kind of selector can be very useful depending on your use-case.
Top comments (32)
Probably should tag this with #beginer
Yeah I also thought I was about to learn something new ;/
Not sure. The regex-like selectors are often times forgotten.
I'll add the beginner tag. Thanks
Yes, should be tagged as beginner, however it is good from time to time to refresh our knowledge and this was a perfect opportunity. Thanks a lot! Have a great day! R.
I'll add the beginner tag and thanks for your comment and have a great day too.
What about selecting an a before a div?
<a></a>
<div></div>
Is this possible?
What you're describing is a "previous sibling" selector and it doesn't exist in CSS. Another popularly desired selector that doesn't exist is a "parent selector." While they both can be implemented in JavaScript pretty easily, the spec-writing gods of CSS, and the algorithm writers who implement those specifications have their reasons for denying us these things.
The reasons come down to performance. We can see this from a couple of snippets from the Selectors Level 4 spec, where it discusses the Live and snapshot profiles
In this particular case
<a>before<div>could be done using thehas()pseudo-class asa:has(+ div)ora:has(~ div), buthas()is only part of the snapshot profile and therefore not for implementation in CSS.Very useful thank you
I'm glad that you find it useful, Thanks for your comment.
Very useful tips. Thank you!
I'm glad that you find it useful, Thanks for your comment.
Great job
Thanks for your comment.
Some of these are really helpful and easy to understand, thanks
I'm glad that you find it useful, Thanks for your comment.
Yes, it's common selectors but useful, thanks
Thanks a lot for your comment.
good
Thanks
No matter this would help in writing clean code or not, but thanks for a quick recall to some of the unconventional selectors, which may surely help to style some typically written html 😁
Thanks