A CSS selector can contain more than one simple selector. Between the simple selectors, we can include a combinator.
There are four different combinators in CSS:
- Descendant combinator (space)
- Child combinator (>)
- Next sibling combinator (+)
- Subsequent-sibling combinator (~)
Descendant Combinator
The descendant combinator matches all elements that are descendants of a specified element.
The following example selects all <p> elements inside <div> elements:
Example
div p {
background-color: yellow;
}
Child Combinator (>)
The child combinator selects all elements that are the children of a specified element.
The following example selects all <p> elements that are children of a <div> element:
Example
div > p {
background-color: yellow;
}
Next Sibling Combinator (+)
The next sibling combinator is used to select an element that is directly after another specific element.
Sibling elements must have the same parent element, and “adjacent” means “immediately following”.
The following example selects the first <p> element that are placed immediately after <div> elements:
Example
div + p {
background-color: yellow;
}
Subsequent-sibling Combinator (~)
The subsequent-sibling combinator selects all elements that are next siblings of a specified element.
The following example selects all <p> elements that are next siblings of <div> elements:
Example
div ~ p {
background-color: yellow;
}