CSS Pseudo-classes

❮ Previous Next ❯

What are Pseudo-classes?

A pseudo-class is used to define a special state of an element.

For example, it can be used to:

Style an element when a user moves the mouse over it
Style visited and unvisited links differently
Style an element when it gets focus
Style valid/invalid/required/optional form elements

Mouse Over Me

Syntax

The syntax of pseudo-classes:

selector:pseudo-class {
property: value;
}

Anchor Pseudo-classes

Links can be displayed in different ways:

Example

/* unvisited link */
a:link {
color: #FF0000;
}

/* visited link */
a:visited {
color: #00FF00;
}

/* mouse over link */
a:hover {
color: #FF00FF;
}

/* selected link */
a:active {
color: #0000FF;
}

Try it Yourself »

Note: a:hover MUST come after a:link and a:visited in the CSS definition in order to be effective! a:active MUST come after a:hover in the CSS definition in order to be effective! Pseudo-class names are not case-sensitive.

Pseudo-classes and HTML Classes

Pseudo-classes can be combined with HTML classes:

When you hover over the link in the example, it will change color:

Example

a.highlight:hover {
color: #ff0000;
}

Try it Yourself »

Hover on <div>

An example of using the :hover pseudo-class on a <div> element:

Example

div:hover {
background-color: blue;
}

Try it Yourself »

Simple Tooltip Hover

Hover over a <div> element to show a <p> element (like a tooltip):

Example

p {
display: none;
background-color: yellow;
padding: 20px;
}

div:hover p {
display: block;
}

Try it Yourself »

CSS - The :first-child Pseudo-class

The :first-child pseudo-class matches a specified element that is the first child of another element.

Match the first <p> element

In the following example, the selector matches any <p> element that is the first child of any element:

Example

p:first-child {
color: blue;
}

Try it Yourself »

Match the first <i> element in all <p> elements

In the following example, the selector matches the first <i> element in all <p> elements:

Example

p i:first-child {
color: blue;
}

Try it Yourself »

Match all <i> elements in all first child <p> elements

In the following example, the selector matches all <i> elements in <p> elements that are the first child of another element:

Example

p:first-child i {
color: blue;
}

Try it Yourself »

CSS - The :lang Pseudo-class

The :lang pseudo-class allows you to define special rules for different languages.

In the example below, :lang defines the quotation marks for <q> elements with lang="no":

Example

<html>
<head>
<style>
q:lang(no) {
quotes: "~" "~";
}
</style>
</head>
<body>

<p>Some text <q lang="no">A quote in a paragraph</q> Some text.</p>

</body>
</html>

Try it Yourself »

More Examples

Add different styles to hyperlinks
This example demonstrates how to add other styles to hyperlinks.

Use of :focus
This example demonstrates how to use the :focus pseudo-class.