CSS selectors cheatsheet & details
📜 CSS selectors cheatsheet
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Recently, I’ve been diving into CSS selectors.
There are so many CSS selectors with unfamiliar symbols, > . , * + ~ [ ] etc, so I was often confused about how CSS selectors work. Eventually, I straightened them out in my head and re-designed them how I understand.
* In fact, I would have wanted to organize them on a single A4 sized page to save papers and save the Earth but I couldn't, because there are so many selectors I wanted to add so I had to go over more than one page. It is all four A4 pages, except the cover pages.
Print this cheatsheet out and stick it on the wall. Don’t memorise them, just peeping. I hope this infographic helps you find proper CSS selectors quickly and saves your time.
🔮 Go to download the CSS selectors cheatsheet and enjoy the game🕹
No worries. It’s all free.
🔎 Dive into CSS selector.
I will list the infographic along with MDN definitions to make things easier for you.
Type Selector
The CSS type selector matches elements by node name. In other words, it selects all elements of the given type within a document. - MDN
ID Selector
Selects an element based on the value of its id attribute. There should be only one element with a given ID in a document. - MDN
Descendant Selector
Any element matching B that is a descendant of an element matching A (that is, a child, or a child of a child, etc.). the combinator is one or more spaces or dual greater than signs. - MDN
Combine the Descendant & ID Selectors
Class Selector
The CSS class selector matches elements based on the contents of their class attribute. - MDN
Combine the Class Selector
Comma Combinator
Any element matching A and/or B. - MDN
The Universal Selector
Just Select everything!
Combine the Universal Selector
Child Selector
The child combinator (>) is placed between two CSS selectors. It matches only those elements matched by the second selector that are the children of elements matched by the first. - MDN
First Child Pseudo-selector
The :first-child CSS pseudo-class represents the first element among a group of sibling elements. - MDN
Only Child Pseudo-selector
The :only-child CSS pseudo-class represents an element without any siblings. This is the same as :first-child:last-child or :nth-child(1):nth-last-child(1), but with a lower specificity. - MDN
Last Child Pseudo-selector
The :last-child CSS pseudo-class represents the last element among a group of sibling elements. - MDN
Nth Child Pseudo-selector
The :nth-child() CSS pseudo-class matches elements based on their position in a group of siblings. - MDN
Nth Last Child Selector
The :nth-last-child() CSS pseudo-class matches elements based on their position among a group of siblings, counting from the end. - MDN
First of Type Selector
The :first-of-type CSS pseudo-class represents the first element of its type among a group of sibling elements. - MDN
Nth of Type Selector
The :nth-of-type() CSS pseudo-class matches elements of a given type, based on their position among a group of siblings. - MDN
Nth-of-type Selector with Formula
🔮 Note::nth-of-type(even)
:nth-of-type(odd)
:nth-of-type(2)
:nth-of-type(2n)
:nth-of-type(3n-1)
:nth-of-type(2n+2)
Only of Type Selector
The :only-of-type CSS pseudo-class represents an element that has no siblings of the same type. - MDN
Last of Type Selector
The :last-of-type CSS pseudo-class represents the last element of its type among a group of sibling elements. - MDN
Empty Selector
The :empty CSS pseudo-class represents any element that has no children. Children can be either element nodes or text (including whitespace). Comments, processing instructions, and CSS content do not affect whether an element is considered empty. - MDN
Negation Pseudo-class
The :not() CSS pseudo-class represents elements that do not match a list of selectors. Since it prevents specific items from being selected, it is known as the negation pseudo-class. - MDN
Attribute Selector
Attribute selectors are a special kind of selector that will match elements based on their attributes and attribute values. Their generic syntax consists of square brackets ([]) containing an attribute name followed by an optional condition to match against the value of the attribute. Attribute selectors can be divided into two categories depending on the way they match attribute values: Presence and value attribute selectors and Substring value attribute selectors. - MDN
Attribute Value Selector
Attribute Starts With Selector
This selector will select all elements with the attribute attr for which the value starts with val. - MDN
Attribute Ends With Selector
This selector will select all elements with the attribute attr for which the value ends with val. - MDN
Attribute Wildcard Selector
This selector will select all elements with the attribute attr for which the value contains the substring val. (A substring is simply part of a string, e.g. "cat" is a substring in the string "caterpillar".) - MDN
🎉 Congratulations, you’ve completed 🎉
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💌 Any questions or feedback
I would love to hear your feedback on how I can make it better for you. Please leave your comments below or through my Twitter.
🙏 Big thanks to Ryan Yu for helping me make CSS selectors game. Ryan Yu is the author of<FrontEnd30 /> where I learnt many cool front-end techniques.
