Web/CSS/Child combinator

The child combinator (>) is placed between two CSS selectors. It matches only those elements matched by the second selector that are the direct children of elements matched by the first.

/* List items that are children of the "my-things" list */
ul.my-things > li {
  margin: 2em;
}

Elements matched by the second selector must be the immediate children of the elements matched by the first selector. This is stricter than the descendant combinator, which matches all elements matched by the second selector for which there exists an ancestor element matched by the first selector, regardless of the number of "hops" up the DOM.

Syntax

selector1 > selector2 { style properties }

Examples

CSS

span {
  background-color: white;
}

div > span {
  background-color: DodgerBlue;
}

HTML

<div>
  <span>Span #1, in the div.
    <span>Span #2, in the span that's in the div.</span>
  </span>
</div>
<span>Span #3, not in the div at all.</span>

Result

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
Selectors Level 4The definition of 'child combinator' in that specification.	Working Draft
Selectors Level 3The definition of 'child combinators' in that specification.	Recommendation	No change.
CSS Level 2 (Revision 1)The definition of 'child selectors' in that specification.	Recommendation	Initial definition.

Browser compatibility

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
Child combinator (`A > B`)	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 1	IE Full support 7	Opera Full support 4	Safari Full support 1	WebView Android Full support ≤37	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support 10.1	Safari iOS Full support 1	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0

Legend

Full support: Full support