The :nth-child()
CSS pseudo-class matches elements based on their position in a group of siblings.
/* Selects the second <li> element in a list */
li:nth-child(2) {
color: lime;
}
/* Selects every fourth element
among any group of siblings */
:nth-child(4n) {
color: lime;
}
Syntax
:nth-child()
takes a single argument that describes a pattern for matching element indices in a list of siblings. Element indices are 1-based.
Keyword values
odd
- Represents elements whose numeric position in a series of siblings is odd: 1, 3, 5, etc.
even
- Represents elements whose numeric position in a series of siblings is even: 2, 4, 6, etc.
Functional notation
<An+B>
- Represents elements in a list whose indices match those found in a custom pattern of numbers, defined by
An+B
, where:A
is an integer step size,B
is an integer offset,n
is all positive integers, starting from 0. - It can be read as the An+Bth element of a list.
Formal syntax
:nth-child( <nth> [ of <complex-selector-list> ]? )where <nth> = <an-plus-b> | even | odd<complex-selector-list> = <complex-selector>#where <complex-selector> = <compound-selector> [ <combinator>? <compound-selector> ]*where <compound-selector> = [ <type-selector>? <subclass-selector>* [ <pseudo-element-selector> <pseudo-class-selector>* ]* ]!<combinator> = '>' | '+' | '~' | [ '||' ]where <type-selector> = <wq-name> | <ns-prefix>? '*'<subclass-selector> = <id-selector> | <class-selector> | <attribute-selector> | <pseudo-class-selector><pseudo-element-selector> = ':' <pseudo-class-selector><pseudo-class-selector> = ':' <ident-token> | ':' <function-token> <any-value> ')'where <wq-name> = <ns-prefix>? <ident-token><ns-prefix> = [ <ident-token> | '*' ]? | <id-selector> = <hash-token><class-selector> = '.' <ident-token><attribute-selector> = '[' <wq-name> ']' | '[' <wq-name> <attr-matcher> [ <string-token> | <ident-token> ] <attr-modifier>? ']'where <attr-matcher> = [ '~' | | | '^' | '$' | '*' ]? '='<attr-modifier> = i | s
Examples
Example selectors
tr:nth-child(odd)
ortr:nth-child(2n+1)
- Represents the odd rows of an HTML table: 1, 3, 5, etc.
tr:nth-child(even)
ortr:nth-child(2n)
- Represents the even rows of an HTML table: 2, 4, 6, etc.
:nth-child(7)
- Represents the seventh element.
:nth-child(5n)
- Represents elements 5 [=5×1], 10 [=5×2], 15 [=5×3], etc. The first one to be returned as a result of the formula is 0 [=5x0], resulting in a no-match, since the elements are indexed from 1, whereas
n
starts from 0. This may seem weird at first, but it makes more sense when theB
part of the formula is>0
, like in the next example. :nth-child(n+7)
- Represents the seventh and all following elements: 7 [=0+7], 8 [=1+7], 9 [=2+7], etc.
:nth-child(3n+4)
- Represents elements 4 [=(3×0)+4], 7 [=(3×1)+4], 10 [=(3×2)+4], 13 [=(3×3)+4], etc.
:nth-child(-n+3)
- Represents the first three elements. [=-0+3, -1+3, -2+3]
p:nth-child(n)
- Represents every
<p>
element in a group of siblings. This selects the same elements as a simplep
selector (although with a higher specificity). p:nth-child(1)
orp:nth-child(0n+1)
- Represents every
<p>
that is the first element in a group of siblings. This is the same as the:first-child
selector (and has the same specificity).
p:nth-child(n+8):nth-child(-n+15)
- Represents the eighth through the fifteenth
<p>
elements of a group of siblings.
Detailed example
HTML
<h3><code>span:nth-child(2n+1)</code>, WITHOUT an <code><em></code> among the child elements.</h3> <p>Children 1, 3, 5, and 7 are selected.</p> <div class="first"> <span>Span 1!</span> <span>Span 2</span> <span>Span 3!</span> <span>Span 4</span> <span>Span 5!</span> <span>Span 6</span> <span>Span 7!</span> </div> <br> <h3><code>span:nth-child(2n+1)</code>, WITH an <code><em></code> among the child elements.</h3> <p>Children 1, 5, and 7 are selected.<br> 3 is used in the counting because it is a child, but it isn't selected because it isn't a <code><span></code>.</p> <div class="second"> <span>Span!</span> <span>Span</span> <em>This is an `em`.</em> <span>Span</span> <span>Span!</span> <span>Span</span> <span>Span!</span> <span>Span</span> </div> <br> <h3><code>span:nth-of-type(2n+1)</code>, WITH an <code><em></code> among the child elements.</h3> <p>Children 1, 4, 6, and 8 are selected.<br> 3 isn't used in the counting or selected because it is an <code><em></code>, not a <code><span></code>, and <code>nth-of-type</code> only selects children of that type. The <code><em></code> is completely skipped over and ignored.</p> <div class="third"> <span>Span!</span> <span>Span</span> <em>This is an `em`.</em> <span>Span!</span> <span>Span</span> <span>Span!</span> <span>Span</span> <span>Span!</span> </div>
CSS
html {
font-family: sans-serif;
}
span,
div em {
padding: 5px;
border: 1px solid green;
display: inline-block;
margin-bottom: 3px;
}
.first span:nth-child(2n+1),
.second span:nth-child(2n+1),
.third span:nth-of-type(2n+1) {
background-color: lime;
}
Result
Specifications
Specification | Status | Comment |
---|---|---|
Selectors Level 4The definition of ':nth-child' in that specification. | Working Draft | Adds of <selector> syntax and specifies that matching elements are not required to have a parent.
|
Selectors Level 3The definition of ':nth-child' in that specification. | Recommendation | Initial definition. |
Browser compatibility
The compatibility table on this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.
Update compatibility data on GitHub
Desktop | Mobile | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
:nth-child()
|
Chrome
Full support 1 |
Edge
Full support 12 |
Firefox
Full support 3.5 |
IE
Full support 9 |
Opera Full support 9.5 Full support 9.5 Notes' Before Opera 15, Opera does not handle dynamically inserted elements for |
Safari
Full support 3.1 |
WebView Android
Full support ≤37 |
Chrome Android
Full support 18 |
Firefox Android
Full support 4 |
Opera Android Full support 10.1 Full support 10.1 Notes' Before Opera 15, Opera does not handle dynamically inserted elements for |
Safari iOS
Full support 3.1 |
Samsung Internet Android
Full support 1.0 |
Matches elements with no parent | Chrome
Full support 57 |
Edge
Full support 79 |
Firefox
Full support 52 |
IE
No support No |
Opera
Full support 44 |
Safari
No support No |
WebView Android
Full support 57 |
Chrome Android
Full support 57 |
Firefox Android
Full support 52 |
Opera Android
Full support 43 |
Safari iOS
No support No |
Samsung Internet Android
Full support 7.0 |
of <selector> syntax
|
Chrome No support No No support No Notes' See bug 304163. |
Edge No support No No support No Notes' See bug 304163. |
Firefox No support No No support No Notes' See bug 854148. |
IE
No support No |
Opera
No support No |
Safari
Full support 9 |
WebView Android
No support No |
Chrome Android
No support No |
Firefox Android No support No No support No Notes' See bug 854148. |
Opera Android
No support No |
Safari iOS
Full support 9 |
Samsung Internet Android
No support No |
Legend
- Full support
- Full support
- No support
- No support
- See implementation notes.'
- See implementation notes.
See also
:nth-child() by Mozilla Contributors is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.5.