How to combine selectors in CSS

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) offers many options to style web pages. CSS uses selectors to define the classes to which a particular style is applied. These selectors can also be combined for varied uses. The common combinations are highlighted below.

Descendent combinator

Descendent combinator combines selectors with a space.

A B {
/* CSS Code */
}

Here, all selectors B which are a descendentcome inside the block of A will have the defined style.

Child combinator

Child combinator combines selectors with a greater than symbol >.

A > B {
/* CSS Code */
}

Here, all selectors B enclosed directly within A will have the defined style.

Next sibling combinator

Next sibling combinator combines selectors with a plus sign +.

A + B {
/* CSS Code */
}

Here, the selector B that comes immediately after A will have the defined style.

Following sibling combinator

Following sibling combinator combines selectors with a plus sign ~.

A ~ B {
/* CSS Code */
}

This is similar to the next sibling combinator, except that it is not necessary for the sibling B to come immediately after A.

Code

The following example shows how we can use the selectors above on HTML elements.

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