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Attribute selectors

The CSS attribute selector matches elements based on the element having a given attribute explicitly set, with options for defining an attribute value or substring value match.

/* <a> elements with a title attribute */
a[title] {
color: purple;
}

/* <a> elements with an href matching "https://example.org" */
a[href="https://example.org"]
{
color: green;
}

/* <a> elements with an href containing "example" */
a[href*="example"] {
font-size: 2em;
}

/* <a> elements with an href ending ".org", case-insensitive */
a[href$=".org" i] {
font-style: italic;
}

/* <a> elements whose class attribute contains the word "logo" */
a[class~="logo"] {
padding: 2px;
}

Syntax​

  • [attr]
    • : Represents elements with an attribute name of attr.
  • [attr=value]
    • : Represents elements with an attribute name of attr whose value is exactly value.
  • [attr~=value]
    • : Represents elements with an attribute name of attr whose value is a whitespace-separated list of words, one of which is exactly value.
  • [attr|=value]
    • : Represents elements with an attribute name of attr whose value can be exactly value or can begin with value immediately followed by a hyphen, - (U+002D). It is often used for language subcode matches.
  • [attr^=value]
    • : Represents elements with an attribute name of attr whose value is prefixed (preceded) by value.
  • [attr$=value]
    • : Represents elements with an attribute name of attr whose value is suffixed (followed) by value.
  • [attr*=value]
    • : Represents elements with an attribute name of attr whose value contains at least one occurrence of value within the string.
  • [attr operator value i]
    • : Adding an i (or I) before the closing bracket causes the value to be compared case-insensitively (for characters within the {{Glossary("ASCII")}} range).
  • [attr operator value s]
    • : Adding an s (or S) before the closing bracket causes the value to be compared case-sensitively (for characters within the {{Glossary("ASCII")}} range).

Values​

  • <attr>
    • : An {{cssxref("ident")}}, that is, the unquoted name of the attribute. This can be any valid language-specific attribute (SVG, HTML, XML, etc), a data-* attribute, or an author-created attribute.
  • <value>
    • : An {{cssxref("ident")}} or {{cssxref("string")}}, representing the attribute value. The value must be quoted if it contains spaces or special characters.
  • s or i
    • : Case sensitivity or insensitivity flag. If included before the closing bracket (]), makes the value case sensitive or insensitive, irrespective of the markup language.

Description​

The case sensitivity of attribute names and values depends on the document language. In HTML, attribute names are case-insensitive, as are spec-defined {{glossary("enumerated")}} values. The case-insensitive HTML attribute values are listed in the HTML spec. For these attributes, the attribute value in the selector is case-insensitive, regardless of whether the value is invalid or the attribute for the element on which it is set is invalid.

If the attribute value is case-sensitive, like class, id, and data-* attributes, the attribute selector value match is case-sensitive. Attributes defined outside of the HTML specification, like role and aria-* attributes, are also case-sensitive. Case-sensitive attribute selectors can be made case-insensitive with the inclusion of the case-insensitive modifier (i).

Examples​

CSS​

a {
color: blue;
}

/* Internal links, beginning with "#" */
a[href^="#"] {
background-color: gold;
}

/* Links with "example" anywhere in the URL */
a[href*="example"] {
background-color: silver;
}

/* Links with "insensitive" anywhere in the URL,
regardless of capitalization */
a[href*="insensitive" i] {
color: cyan;
}

/* Links with "cAsE" anywhere in the URL,
with matching capitalization */
a[href*="cAsE" s] {
color: pink;
}

/* Links that end in ".org" */
a[href$=".org"] {
color: red;
}

/* Links that start with "https://" and end in ".org" */
a[href^="https://"][href$=".org"]
{
color: green;
}

HTML​

<ul>
<li><a href="#internal">Internal link</a></li>
<li><a href="http://example.com">Example link</a></li>
<li><a href="#InSensitive">Insensitive internal link</a></li>
<li><a href="http://example.org">Example org link</a></li>
<li><a href="https://example.org">Example https org link</a></li>
</ul>

Result​

{{EmbedLiveSample("Links")}}

Languages​

CSS​

/* All divs with a `lang` attribute are bold. */
div[lang] {
font-weight: bold;
}

/* All divs without a `lang` attribute are italicized. */
div:not([lang]) {
font-style: italic;
}

/* All divs in US English are blue. */
div[lang~="en-us"] {
color: blue;
}

/* All divs in Portuguese are green. */
div[lang="pt"] {
color: green;
}

/* All divs in Chinese are red, whether
simplified (zh-Hans-CN) or traditional (zh-Hant-TW). */
div[lang|="zh"] {
color: red;
}

/* All divs with a Traditional Chinese
`data-lang` are purple. */
/* Note: You could also use hyphenated attributes
without double quotes */
div[data-lang="zh-Hant-TW"] {
color: purple;
}

HTML​

<div lang="en-us en-gb en-au en-nz">Hello World!</div>
<div lang="pt">OlΓ‘ Mundo!</div>
<div lang="zh-Hans-CN">δΈ–η•Œζ‚¨ε₯½οΌ</div>
<div lang="zh-Hant-TW">δΈ–η•Œζ‚¨ε₯½οΌ</div>
<div data-lang="zh-Hant-TW">δΈ–η•Œζ‚¨ε₯½οΌ</div>

Result​

{{EmbedLiveSample("Languages")}}

HTML ordered lists​

The HTML specification requires the type attribute to be matched case-insensitively because it is primarily used in the element. Note that if a modifier is not supported by the user agent, then the selector will not match.

CSS​

/* Case-sensitivity depends on document language */
ol[type="a"]:first-child {
list-style-type: lower-alpha;
background: red;
}

ol[type="i" s] {
list-style-type: lower-alpha;
background: lime;
}

ol[type="I" s] {
list-style-type: upper-alpha;
background: grey;
}

ol[type="a" i] {
list-style-type: upper-alpha;
background: green;
}

HTML​

<ol type="A">
<li>
Red background for case-insensitive matching (default for the type selector)
</li>
</ol>
<ol type="i">
<li>Lime background if `s` modifier is supported (case-sensitive match)</li>
</ol>
<ol type="I">
<li>Grey background if `s` modifier is supported (case-sensitive match)</li>
</ol>
<ol type="A">
<li>
Green background if `i` modifier is supported (case-insensitive match)
</li>
</ol>

Result​

{{EmbedLiveSample("HTML_ordered_lists")}}

Specifications​

Browser compatibility​

See also​

  • {{CSSxRef("attr")}}
  • Selecting a single element: {{DOMxRef("Document.querySelector()")}}, {{DOMxRef("DocumentFragment.querySelector()")}}, or {{DOMxRef("Element.querySelector()")}}
  • Selecting all matching elements: {{DOMxRef("Document.querySelectorAll()")}}, {{DOMxRef("DocumentFragment.querySelectorAll()")}}, or {{DOMxRef("Element.querySelectorAll()")}}
  • Case-insensitive attribute selector values on WHATWG