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CSS combinator Selectors Tutorial with Examples

  1. Descendant combinator
  2. Child combinator
  3. General sibling combinator
  4. Adjacent sibling combinator
  5. Column combinator

1. Descendant combinator

Descendant combinator: A white space is placed between 2 Selector, for example ( A B ). Firstly, it searches for all the elements that match Selector 1 and gets result 1. Then it looks for the elements which are the descendants of the elements of result 1 which match Selector 2 and gets result 2. Finally, result 2 is exactly what is expected.
Syntax is:
selector1  selector2  {

}
selector1  selector2  selector3 {

}
For example, searching for <span> elements that are descended from the <div> elements:
div  span  {
   background: yellow;
}
For example, searching for all the <li> elements which are descended from the "ul.sidebar" elements.
/* List items that are descendants of the "sidebar" list */
ul.sidebar li {
  margin: 2em;
}
Example:
combinator-example1.css
li {
  list-style-type: disc;
}
li li {
  list-style-type: circle;
}
combinator-example1.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
   <head>
      <meta charset="utf-8"/>
      <title>CSS Descendant combinator</title>
      <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="combinator-example1.css" />
   </head>
   <body>
      <h3>CSS Descendant combinator</h3>
      <ul>
         <li>
            <div>CSS</div>
            <ul>
               <li>
                  <div>CSS Selectors</div>
                  <ul>
                     <li>Basic Selectors</li>
                     <li>Combinator</li>
                  </ul>
               </li>
               <li>CSS Tables</li>
            </ul>
         </li>
         <li>
            <div>Java</div>
            <ul>
               <li>Spring</li>
               <li>Struts</li>
            </ul>
         </li>
      </ul>
   </body>
</html>

2. Child combinator

Child combinator: The sign (>) is placed between 2 Selectors, for example ( A > B ). Firstly, it searches for all the elements that match Selector 1 and gets result 1. Then it looks for the elements which are the direct children of the elements of result 1 which match Selector 2 and gets result 2. Finally, result 2 is exactly what is expected.
Syntax is:
selector1 > selector2 {

}
selector1  > selector2 >  selector3 {

}
Example:
combinator-example3.css
div.box {
   margin: 5px;
   padding: 5px;
   border: 1px solid green;
}
div.box > p.title {
   font-size: 20px;
   color: blue;
}
combinator-example3.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
   <head>
      <meta charset="utf-8"/>
      <title>CSS Descendant combinator</title>
      <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="combinator-example3.css" />
   </head>
   <body>
      <h3>CSS Child combinator</h3>
       <div class="box">
           <p class="title">CSS</p>
           <p class="content">
               CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets,...
           </p>
       </div> 
       <div class="box">
           <p class="title">Javascript</p>
           <p class="content">
               JavaScript is a scripting or programming language that
               allows you to implement complex features on web pages,...
           </p>
       </div>
   </body>
</html>

3. General sibling combinator

General sibling combinator: A hyphen (~) is placed between 2 Selectors, for example (A ~ B). Firstly, it searches for all the elements that match Selector 1 and gets result 1. Then it searches for the elements which are "younger siblings" of the elements of result 1 which match Selector 2 and gets result 2. Finally, result 2 is exactly what is expected.
Example:
combinator-example5.css
a {
   margin:5px;
   font-size: 20px;
}
.menubar {
   margin: 10px 0px;
   padding: 5px;
   border: 1px solid #ddd;
}
a:hover {
    color: blue;
    font-weight: bold;
}
a:hover ~ a {
    font-size: 80%;
    font-style: italic;
    color: black;
}
combinator-example5.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
   <head>
      <meta charset="utf-8"/>
      <title>CSS General Sibling combinator</title>
      <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="combinator-example5.css" />
   </head>
   <body>
      <h3>CSS General Sibling combinator</h3>
       <a href="#">Top Link</a>
       <div class="menubar">
            <a href="#">CSS</a>
            <a href="#">Javascript</a>
            <a href="#">HTML</a>
            <a href="#">Bootstrap</a>
            <a href="#">jQuery</a>
       </div>
   </body>
</html>

4. Adjacent sibling combinator

Adjacent sibling combinator The plus sign (+) is placed between 2 Selectors, for example (A + B). First, it searches for all the elements that match Selector 1 and gets result 1. Then it searches for the elements that are "younger adjacent siblings" of the elements of result 1 which match Selector 2 and gets result 2. Finally, result 2 is exactly what is expected.
Example:
combinator-example7.css
a {
   margin:5px;
   font-size: 20px;
}
.menubar {
   margin: 10px 0px;
   padding: 5px;
   border: 1px solid #ddd;
}
a:hover {
    color: red;
    font-weight: bold;
}
a:hover + a {
    font-size: 80%;
    font-style: italic;
    color: black;
}
combinator-example7.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
   <head>
      <meta charset="utf-8"/>
      <title>CSS Adjacent Sibling combinator</title>
      <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="combinator-example7.css" />
   </head>
   <body>
      <h3>CSS Adjacent Sibling combinator</h3>
       <a href="#">Top Link</a>
       <div class="menubar">
            <a href="#">CSS</a>
            <a href="#">Javascript</a>
            <a href="#">HTML</a>
            <a href="#">Bootstrap</a>
            <a href="#">jQuery</a>
       </div>
   </body>
</html>

5. Column combinator

Column Combinator is on a trial basis, and is not supported by browsers yet.

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