Earn income with your CSS skills
Sign up and we'll send you the best freelance opportunities straight to your inbox.
We're building the largest self-service freelancing marketplace for people like you.

CSS Combinators

CSS combinators are combinations of 2 or more CSS selectors.

These selectors have certain relationships with each other.

Relationship types are: descendent, child, adjacent, or sibling.

Example

#

A parent-child relationship between 2 selectors (.contain > .child).

A child element
<style>
  .contain {
    background-color: lightblue;
    padding: 30px;
  }

  .contain > .child {
    background-color: aliceblue;
    padding: 15px;
  }
</style>

<div class="contain">
  <div class="child">A child element</div>
</div>

Using combinators

A combinator combines two selectors into a new relationship.

There are four different CSS combinators:

  • descendent selector (space)
  • child selector (>)
  • adjacent sibling selector (+)
  • general sibling selector (~)

Descendent selector

A descendent selector matches two elements that are descendents from each other.

The descendent element can be any level below the ancestor.

This combinator uses a ' ' (space) between the selectors.

In this example the descendants are 4 levels deep and are styled correctly.

Descendent element
Descendent element
Descendent element
<style>
  .ancestor {
    background-color: lightblue;
    padding: 15px;
  }

  .ancestor .descendent {
    background-color: aliceblue;
    padding: 30px;
    margin: 10px;
  }
</style>

<div class="ancestor">
  <div>
    <div>
      <div class="descendent">Descendent element</div>
      <div class="descendent">Descendent element</div>
      <div class="descendent">Descendent element</div>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

Child selector

The child selector matches all immediate children of an element.

This relationship is only 1 level deep.

The combinator uses a '>' between the selectors.

Only immediate child elements are assigned a style.

Immediate child element
Immediate child element
Immediate child element
Not an immediate child
<style>
  .the-parent {
    background-color: lightblue;
    padding: 30px;
  }

  .the-parent > div {
    background-color: aliceblue;
    padding: 30px;
    margin: 20px 0;
  }
</style>

<div class="the-parent">
  <div>Immediate child element</div>
  <div>Immediate child element</div>
  <div>Immediate child element</div>
  <section>
    <div>Not an immediate child</div>
  </section>
</div>

Adjacent sibling selector

The adjacent sibling selector matches all elements that are adjacent sibling elements.

Sibling elements have the same parent and must follow each other immediately.

This combinator uses a '+' between the selectors.

Only the element adjacent to the starting element is styled.

Starter
Adjacent sibling
Not an adjacent sibling
Not an adjacent sibling
<style>
  .adjacent {
    background-color: lightblue;
    padding: 30px;
  }

  .adjacent + div {
    background-color: aliceblue;
    padding: 30px;
    margin: 20px 0;
  }
</style>

<div>
  <div class="adjacent">Starter</div>
  <div>Adjacent sibling</div>
  <div>Not an adjacent sibling</div>
  <div>Not an adjacent sibling</div>
</div>

General sibling selector

The general sibling selector matches all elements that follow the specified element and are siblings.

This combinator uses a '~' between the selectors.

All sibling elements are styled.

Starter
A general sibling
A general sibling
A general sibling
<style>
  .general {
    background-color: lightblue;
    padding: 30px;
  }

  .general ~ div {
    background-color: aliceblue;
    padding: 30px;
    margin: 20px 0;
  }
</style>

<div>
  <div class="general">Starter</div>
  <div>A general sibling</div>
  <div>A general sibling</div>
  <div>A general sibling</div>
</div>

You may also like

Earn income with your CSS skills
Sign up and we'll send you the best freelance opportunities straight to your inbox.
We're building the largest self-service freelancing marketplace for people like you.

Guides