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Ibrahima Ndaw
Ibrahima Ndaw

Posted on • Updated on • Originally published at ibrahima-ndaw.com

6 powerful CSS selectors that will really help you write clean CSS.

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>
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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>
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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>
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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>
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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>
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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>
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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)

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rafaelliendo profile image
Rafael Liendo

Probably should tag this with #beginer

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hyftar profile image
Simon Landry

Yeah I also thought I was about to learn something new ;/

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focusotter profile image
Michael Liendo

Not sure. The regex-like selectors are often times forgotten.

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ibrahima92 profile image
Ibrahima Ndaw

I'll add the beginner tag. Thanks

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rolandcsibrei profile image
Roland Csibrei

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.

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ibrahima92 profile image
Ibrahima Ndaw

I'll add the beginner tag and thanks for your comment and have a great day too.

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yezehmat profile image
Ahmad Shahzad • Edited

What about selecting an a before a div?

<a></a>
<div></div>

Is this possible?

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verdedev profile image
verdedev

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.

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alohci profile image
Nicholas Stimpson • Edited

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

Selectors are used in many different contexts, with wildly varying performance characteristics. Some powerful selectors are unfortunately too slow to realistically include in the more performance-sensitive contexts.
ISSUE 1 - The categorization of things into the “live” or snapshot profiles needs implementor review. If some things currently not in the live profile can reasonably be done in CSS Selectors, we should move them.

In this particular case <a> before <div> could be done using the has() pseudo-class as a:has(+ div) or a:has(~ div), but has() is only part of the snapshot profile and therefore not for implementation in CSS.

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aimadghssisse profile image
Aimad Ghssisse

Very useful thank you

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ibrahima92 profile image
Ibrahima Ndaw

I'm glad that you find it useful, Thanks for your comment.

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lucian2403 profile image
Lucian2403

Very useful tips. Thank you!

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ibrahima92 profile image
Ibrahima Ndaw

I'm glad that you find it useful, Thanks for your comment.

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bipan82gill profile image
bipan82gill

Great job

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ibrahima92 profile image
Ibrahima Ndaw

Thanks for your comment.

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hnnx profile image
Nejc

Some of these are really helpful and easy to understand, thanks

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ibrahima92 profile image
Ibrahima Ndaw

I'm glad that you find it useful, Thanks for your comment.

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mostafa_hegazi profile image
Mostafa Hegazy

Yes, it's common selectors but useful, thanks

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ibrahima92 profile image
Ibrahima Ndaw

Thanks a lot for your comment.

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ji2026 profile image
jishnu chandran

good

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ibrahima92 profile image
Ibrahima Ndaw

Thanks

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kashanshah profile image
Syed Kashan Ali Shah

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 😁

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ibrahima92 profile image
Ibrahima Ndaw

Thanks