Select All Child Elements Recursively in Css

How can you select all child elements recursively?

div.dropdown, div.dropdown > * {
    color: red;
}

This class only throws a class on the defined className and all immediate children. How can you, in a simple way, pick all childNodes like this:

div.dropdown, 
div.dropdown > *, 
div.dropdown > * > *, 
div.dropdown > * > * > *, 
div.dropdown > * > * > * > * {
    color: red;
}

2 Answers

Use a white space to match all descendants of an element:

div.dropdown * {
    color: red;
}

x y matches every element y that is inside x, however deeply nested it may be - children, grandchildren and so on.

The asterisk * matches any element.

Official Specification: CSS 2.1: Chapter 5.5: Descendant Selectors

9

The rule is as following :

A B {
  /* B is descendant of A */
}
A > B {
  /* B is direct child of A */
}

So

div.dropdown *

instead of

div.dropdown > * 

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Elena Rostova

Elena Rostova

Lead Health, Wellness & Medical Journalist

Elena Rostova holds a Master's degree in Public Health Journalism. She covers groundbreaking medical research, holistic wellness trends, mental health awareness, and nutritional science.

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