Pattern | Matches | Example |
* | any element | * |
tag | elements with the given tag name | div |
ns|E | elements of type E in the namespace ns | fb|name finds <fb:name> elements |
#id | elements with attribute ID of "id" | div#wrap, #logo |
.class | elements with a class name of "class" | div.left, .result |
[attr] | elements with an attribute named "attr" (with any value) | a[href], [title] |
[^attrPrefix] | elements with an attribute name starting with "attrPrefix". Use to find elements with HTML5 datasets | [^data-], div[^data-] |
[attr=val] | elements with an attribute named "attr", and value equal to "val" | img[width=500], a[rel=nofollow] |
[attr="val"] | elements with an attribute named "attr", and value equal to "val" | span[hello="Cleveland"][goodbye="Columbus"], a[rel="nofollow"] |
[attr^=valPrefix] | elements with an attribute named "attr", and value starting with "valPrefix" | a[href^=http:] |
[attr$=valSuffix] | elements with an attribute named "attr", and value ending with "valSuffix" | img[src$=.png] |
[attr*=valContaining] | elements with an attribute named "attr", and value containing "valContaining" | a[href*=/search/] |
[attr~=regex] | elements with an attribute named "attr", and value matching the regular expression | img[src~=(?i)\\.(png|jpe?g)] |
| The above may be combined in any order | div.header[title] |
Combinators |
E F | an F element descended from an E element | div a, .logo h1 |
E
>
F | an F direct child of E | ol
>
li |
E + F | an F element immediately preceded by sibling E | li + li, div.head + div |
E ~ F | an F element preceded by sibling E | h1 ~ p |
E, F, G | all matching elements E, F, or G | a[href], div, h3 |
Pseudo selectors |
:lt(n) | elements whose sibling index is less than n | td:lt(3) finds the first 3 cells of each row |
:gt(n) | elements whose sibling index is greater than n | td:gt(1) finds cells after skipping the first two |
:eq(n) | elements whose sibling index is equal to n | td:eq(0) finds the first cell of each row |
:has(selector) | elements that contains at least one element matching the selector | div:has(p) finds divs that contain p elements |
:not(selector) | elements that do not match the selector. See also
| div:not(.logo) finds all divs that do not have the "logo" class.div:not(:has(div)) finds divs that do not contain divs. |
:contains(text) | elements that contains the specified text. The search is case insensitive. The text may appear in the found element, or any of its descendants. | p:contains(jsoup) finds p elements containing the text "jsoup". |
:matches(regex) | elements whose text matches the specified regular expression. The text may appear in the found element, or any of its descendants. | td:matches(\\d+) finds table cells containing digits. div:matches((?i)login) finds divs containing the text, case insensitively. |
:containsOwn(text) | elements that directly contain the specified text. The search is case insensitive. The text must appear in the found element, not any of its descendants. | p:containsOwn(jsoup) finds p elements with own text "jsoup". |
:matchesOwn(regex) | elements whose own text matches the specified regular expression. The text must appear in the found element, not any of its descendants. | td:matchesOwn(\\d+) finds table cells directly containing digits. div:matchesOwn((?i)login) finds divs containing the text, case insensitively. |
| The above may be combined in any order and with other selectors | .light:contains(name):eq(0) |
Structural pseudo selectors |
:root | The element that is the root of the document. In HTML, this is the html element | :root |
:nth-child(an+b) | elements that have an+b-1 siblings before it in the document tree, for any positive integer or zero value of n, and has a parent element. For values of a and b greater than zero, this effectively divides the element's children into groups of a elements (the last group taking the remainder), and selecting the bth element of each group. For example, this allows the selectors to address every other row in a table, and could be used to alternate the color of paragraph text in a cycle of four. The a and b values must be integers (positive, negative, or zero). The index of the first child of an element is 1.
In addition to this, :nth-child() can take odd and even as arguments instead. odd has the same signification as 2n+1, and even has the same signification as 2n. | tr:nth-child(2n+1) finds every odd row of a table. :nth-child(10n-1) the 9th, 19th, 29th, etc, element. li:nth-child(5) the 5h li |
:nth-last-child(an+b) | elements that have an+b-1 siblings after it in the document tree. Otherwise like :nth-child() | tr:nth-last-child(-n+2) the last two rows of a table |
:nth-of-type(an+b) | pseudo-class notation represents an element that has an+b-1 siblings with the same expanded element name before it in the document tree, for any zero or positive integer value of n, and has a parent element | img:nth-of-type(2n+1) |
:nth-last-of-type(an+b) | pseudo-class notation represents an element that has an+b-1 siblings with the same expanded element name after it in the document tree, for any zero or positive integer value of n, and has a parent element | img:nth-last-of-type(2n+1) |
:first-child | elements that are the first child of some other element. | div
>
p:first-child |
:last-child | elements that are the last child of some other element. | ol
>
li:last-child |
:first-of-type | elements that are the first sibling of its type in the list of children of its parent element | dl dt:first-of-type |
:last-of-type | elements that are the last sibling of its type in the list of children of its parent element | tr
>
td:last-of-type |
:only-child | elements that have a parent element and whose parent element hasve no other element children | |
:only-of-type | an element that has a parent element and whose parent element has no other element children with the same expanded element name | |
:empty | elements that have no children at all | |