Web/CSS/ visited

The :visited CSS pseudo-class represents links that the user has already visited. For privacy reasons, the styles that can be modified using this selector are very limited.

/* Selects any <a> that has been visited */
a:visited {
  color: green;
}

Styles defined by the :visited pseudo-class will be overridden by any subsequent link-related pseudo-class (:link, :hover, or :active) that has at least equal specificity. To style links appropriately, put the :visited rule after the :link rule but before the :hover and :active rules, as defined by the LVHA-order: :link — :visited — :hover — :active.

Privacy restrictions

For privacy reasons, browsers strictly limit which styles you can apply using this pseudo-class, and how they can be used:

Allowable CSS properties are color, background-color, border-color, border-bottom-color, border-left-color, border-right-color, border-top-color, column-rule-color, outline-color, text-decoration-color, and text-emphasis-color.
Allowable SVG attributes are fill and stroke.
The alpha component of the allowed styles will be ignored. The alpha component of the element's non-:visited state will be used instead, except when that component is 0, in which case the style set in :visited will be ignored entirely.
Although these styles can be change the appearance of colors to the end user, the window.getComputedStyle method will lie and always return the value of the non-:visited color.
The <link> element is never matched by :visited.

Note: For more information on these limitations and the reasons behind them, see Privacy and the :visited selector.

Syntax

:visited

Examples

Properties that would otherwise have no color or be transparent cannot be modified with :visited. Of the properties that can be set with this pseudo-class, your browser probably has a default value for color and column-rule-color only. Thus, if you want to modify the other properties, you'll need to give them a base value outside the :visited selector.

HTML

<a href="#test-visited-link">Have you visited this link yet?</a><br>
<a href="">You've already visited this link.</a>

CSS

a {
  /* Specify non-transparent defaults to certain properties,
     allowing them to be styled with the :visited state */
  background-color: white;
  border: 1px solid white;
}

a:visited {
  background-color: yellow;
  border-color: hotpink;
  color: hotpink;
}

Result

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
HTML Living StandardThe definition of ':visited' in that specification.	Living Standard
Selectors Level 4The definition of ':visited' in that specification.	Working Draft	No change.
Selectors Level 3The definition of ':visited' in that specification.	Recommendation	No change.
CSS Level 2 (Revision 1)The definition of ':visited' in that specification.	Recommendation	Lifts the restriction to only apply `:visited` to the `<a>` element. Lets browsers restrict its behavior for privacy reasons.
CSS Level 1The definition of ':visited' 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
`:visited`	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 1	IE Full support 4	Opera Full support 3.5	Safari Full support 1	WebView Android Full support 4.4	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
`:visited` no longer matches `<link>` elements	Chrome Full support 1 Notes' Full support 1 Notes' Notes' Chromium has never matched `<link>` elements with link pseudo-classes.	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 70	IE No support No	Opera Full support 15 Notes' Full support 15 Notes' Notes' Chromium has never matched `<link>` elements with link pseudo-classes.	Safari Full support 12	WebView Android Full support 4.4 Notes' Full support 4.4 Notes' Notes' Chromium has never matched `<link>` elements with link pseudo-classes.	Chrome Android Full support 18 Notes' Full support 18 Notes' Notes' Chromium has never matched `<link>` elements with link pseudo-classes.	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android Full support 14 Notes' Full support 14 Notes' Notes' Chromium has never matched `<link>` elements with link pseudo-classes.	Safari iOS Full support 12	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0 Notes' Full support 1.0 Notes' Notes' Chromium has never matched `<link>` elements with link pseudo-classes.
Restrict CSS properties allowed in a statement using `:visited` for privacy	Chrome Full support 6	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 4	IE Full support 8	Opera Full support 15	Safari Full support 5	WebView Android Full support 37	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support 14	Safari iOS Full support 4.2	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0

Legend

Full support: Full support
No support: No support
See implementation notes.': See implementation notes.