Css selector all child elements

How to select all child elements recursively in CSS

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Child elements can be selected by using the child selector. To select all child elements recursively we can use the universal selector * .

Syntax

To select all the child elements of an element recursively in CSS, we use the following syntax:

.myDiv *  
background-color: red;
>

This allows us to select all the child elements, including the ones that are not explicitly stated by their name, ID, or class. In the example above, all the child elements of a div with class myDiv will have a red background, without us having to explicitly assign a color to each child element.

Example

Let’s explore the following example to see how the example above works:

In the index.js file, we can see that the last two paragraph tags are not child elements of the myDiv class.

It’s worth mentioning that there is a difference between child selection vs. descendant selection. Using recursive selection, we actually select descendants of an element and not only its direct children.

Example

Let’s examine the difference between child element selection vs. the recursive selection of an element’s descendants in the following example:

In the example above, we can witness the difference between direct child element selection and recursive selection in action. If we select the direct children of the .myDiv element with the direct child selector > , we can only select its direct children, and any deeply nested element would be ignored. For example, “Hello World” does not have a red background color in output because it’s nested within a span tag. Let’s see how we can select all paragraph descendants of the myDiv class.

We use the descendant selector, .myDiv p , which consists of the parent element and the descendant we want to select with a space between them. In the above example, the descendant selector selects all the descendants of the myDiv class that are paragraphs, including the nested one. For example, now «Hello World» has a red background in output.

Now, let’s see how the universal selector selects all the descendants of .myDiv .

Lastly, by using the universal selector, * , we can select all the descendants of .myDiv without having to specify which tag (or class or ID, if we had one) we need. That’s how every single element inside .myDiv , no matter how deeply nested, will have a red background.

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How to Select All Child Elements Recursively in CSS

A child selector matches all child elements of a specified element. It is composed of two or more selectors that are separated by «>».

A child selector has the following syntax:

This syntax selects all child elements. If you want to select child elements recursively, use the syntax below.

First, we’ll explain how to select all child elements.

Create HTML

div> span>Paragraph 1 span> span>Paragraph 2 span> p> span>Paragraph 3 span> p> div> span>Paragraph 4 span> span>Paragraph 5 span>

Add CSS

• Add the display property set to «block» for all the elements.
• Add a child selector and set the background-color property.

span < display: block; > div>span < background-color: #9ba2a3; >

Example of selecting all child elements:

html> html> head> title>Title of the document title> style> span < display: block; > div > span < background-color: #9ba2a3; > style> head> body> div> span>Paragraph 1 span> span>Paragraph 2 span> p> span>Paragraph 3 span> p> div> span>Paragraph 4 span> span>Paragraph 5 span> body> html>

Result

Now, we’ll discuss another example where we select all child elements recursively. In the following example, we use the second syntax mentioned above and add background-color to the div class. The asterisk (*) matches any element.

Example of selecting all child elements recursively:

html> html> head> title>Title of the document title> style> span < display: block; > div.example, div.example > * < background-color: #9ba2a3; > style> head> body> div class="example"> span>Paragraph 1 span> span>Paragraph 2 span> p> span>Paragraph 3 span> p> div> span>Paragraph 4 span> span>Paragraph 5 span> body> html>

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How to select all child elements recursively using CSS?

CSS (or Cascading Style Sheets) is used in presenting and designing web pages. It is not used alone, rather it is used with HTML or XML for defining the appearance and layout of web pages. CSS helps developers in styling all the HTML elements including headings, paragraphs, text, images, tables, etc. And not only this, but it also specifies how they should be displayed on different screens, in printables, or on other media types. It can also be used for creating responsive web designs for different screen sizes and devices.

CSS plays a significant role in web development because it is widely supported by all major web browsers enabling developers to create great user interfaces(UI) & dynamic web applications to engage users and enhance their overall experience. One of the most common tasks when styling the elements in HTML using CSS is selecting elements. You will notice some cases where we may want to select all the child elements of an element, including their nested children. In this article, we’ll see how to select all those child elements recursively with the help of CSS.

What is CSS Selector?

CSS selector is a pattern used for selecting and targeting HTML elements to do styling or other manipulations in an HTML element. A selector selects the elements based on the attributes such as class, id, or type. The syntax for using a CSS selector is given below −

Syntax

What is a child selector in CSS?

The child selector in CSS is a combinator that is used to select direct child elements of a parent element. It is defined using the «>» symbol. It also targets the elements that are immediate children of a specified parent element.

Syntax

The syntax consists of the «>» symbol that targets direct child elements only of the «main-list» element, which are «li» in this case. Therefore, the CSS rule defined above only selects the «List Item 1» and «List Item 2» list, but not the «List 1» list, which is nested within a nested ul element.

The child selector is very useful when there is a need to apply styles to specific child elements of a parent element, without affecting their subordinates or nested children. The child selector also provides a more specific way to target elements in the document tree and can help avoid conflicts with other CSS rules that may apply to similar elements.

Selecting all child elements recursively in CSS

Sometimes there may be a case, where we need to select all child elements, we can use CSS selectors using the (*) operator to select elements. The syntax for selecting all the child elements of an element is defined using the «>» operator. As an example, the following CSS rule selects all the direct child elements of the «parent» element.

Syntax

The syntax above selects all the child elements of the «main-list» element, including their nested children. You will notice the space between the «main-list» element and the wildcard selector (*) indicates that we want to select all the descendants of the «parent» element, not just the direct children.

You can also use the » :not() » pseudo-class to exclude certain elements from the selection. For example, the following CSS rule selects all the child elements of the «main-list» element recursively, except for the «list-not» element −

Example 1: An example demonstrating selecting all child elements

In the below example, we have defined a class .parent > div that applies a style to any element that is an immediate child of an element with a class of «parent». In this case, the only element that matches this criterion is the one with a type of «main-list».

Example 2: An example demonstrating selecting all child elements recursively

In the given example, a CSS selector «div.parent > *» is used to select all child elements of the «div» element with a class of «parent» recursively, meaning that it selects all descendants of the «div» element, including nested elements.

In the given code, the selector is used in conjunction with the «background-color: green» property, which sets the background color of all child elements of the «div» element with a class of «parent» to green, including the nested «li» element and the «li» element inside the «span» element.

Conclusion

CSS is a language used for styling web pages. One of the most common tasks in CSS is selecting elements. The child selector in CSS selects direct child elements of a parent element. It is defined using the «>» symbol. Sometimes we need to select all child elements recursively, which can be done using the () operator.

By using a space between the parent element and the wildcard selector (), we can select all descendants of the parent element. The «:not()» pseudo-class can also be used to exclude certain elements from the selection. CSS selectors are crucial for creating visually appealing and dynamic websites that enhance user experience.

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