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CSS

Cristian Villamarin
Cristian Villamarin
2,310 Points
Posted by Cristian Villamarin
Cristian Villamarin
2,310 Points

descendant vs child

what is the difference between a descendant selector and a child selector?

2 Answers

Colin Marshall
Colin Marshall
32,861 Points
Colin Marshall
Colin Marshall
32,861 Points

Take this example:

<div>
    <ul>
        <li>Item 1</li> 
        <li>Item 2</li>
    </ul>
</div>

The ul is a child of div. The li's are children of the ul, but the li's are not children of the div because they are wrapped inside a set of ul tags, and then wrapped in the div tags.

The ul and the li's are both descendant's of div.

All children of an element are also descendants of that same element, but not all descendants of that element are children of it. Just think of it in terms of an actual family and you should catch on pretty quick.