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CSS

Kailash Seshadri
Kailash Seshadri
3,087 Points
Posted by Kailash Seshadri
Kailash Seshadri
3,087 Points

:nth-child

I cant seem to wrap my head around the :nth-child pseudo class.. can someone please it to me in simple words?

1 Answer

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,269 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,269 Points

In it's simple form (nth-child(number)) it's simply what order the item came in. For exmple, li:nth-child(3) would target only the third of a set of list items.

Then if you add a letter 'n' after the number, it repeats. An example of this might be li:nth-child(3) which would target every third item (3, 6, 9, 12, and so on).

Finally, if you add a plus sign (+) and another number, that number is the offset or starting number. For example, li:nth-child(3n+5) would target every third item starting with number 5 (5, 8, 11, 14, and so on).

Does that clear it up?

Kailash Seshadri
Kailash Seshadri
3,087 Points
Kailash Seshadri
Kailash Seshadri
3,087 Points

So in simple words, p:nth-child (3) ,for example, will select the third p element in the html and p:nth-child (3n), will select the 3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th... paragraph elements in the html?