:nth-child() Selector
nth-child selector
version added: 1.1.4jQuery(':nth-child(index/even/odd/equation)')
-
- index
- The index of each child to match, starting with
1, the stringevenorodd, or an equation ( eg.:nth-child(even),:nth-child(4n))
Description: Selects all elements that are the nth-child of their parent.
Because jQuery's implementation of :nth-child(n) is strictly derived from the CSS specification, the value of n is "1-indexed", meaning that the counting starts at 1. For all other selector expressions, however, jQuery follows JavaScript's "0-indexed" counting. Therefore, given a single <ul> containing two <li>s, $('li:nth-child(1)') selects the first <li> while $('li:eq(1)') selects the second.
The :nth-child(n) pseudo-class is easily confused with :eq(n), even though the two can result in dramatically different matched elements. With :nth-child(n), all children are counted, regardless of what they are, and the specified element is selected only if it matches the selector attached to the pseudo-class. With :eq(n) only the selector attached to the pseudo-class is counted, not limited to children of any other element, and the (n+1)th one (n is 0-based) is selected.
Further discussion of this unusual usage can be found in the W3C CSS specification.
Examples:
Example: Finds the second li in each matched ul and notes it.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
div { float:left; }
span { color:blue; }
</style>
<script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.7rc2.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
<div><ul>
<li>John</li>
<li>Karl</li>
<li>Brandon</li>
</ul></div>
<div><ul>
<li>Sam</li>
</ul></div>
<div><ul>
<li>Glen</li>
<li>Tane</li>
<li>Ralph</li>
<li>David</li>
</ul></div>
<script>$("ul li:nth-child(2)").append("<span> - 2nd!</span>");</script>
</body>
</html>Example: This is a playground to see how the selector works with different strings. Notice that this is different from the :even and :odd which have no regard for parent and just filter the list of elements to every other one. The :nth-child, however, counts the index of the child to its particular parent. In any case, it's easier to see than explain so...
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
button { display:block; font-size:12px; width:100px; }
div { float:left; margin:10px; font-size:10px;
border:1px solid black; }
span { color:blue; font-size:18px; }
#inner { color:red; }
td { width:50px; text-align:center; }
</style>
<script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.7rc2.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
<div>
<button>:nth-child(even)</button>
<button>:nth-child(odd)</button>
<button>:nth-child(3n)</button>
<button>:nth-child(2)</button>
</div>
<div>
<button>:nth-child(3n+1)</button>
<button>:nth-child(3n+2)</button>
<button>:even</button>
<button>:odd</button>
</div>
<div><table>
<tr><td>John</td></tr>
<tr><td>Karl</td></tr>
<tr><td>Brandon</td></tr>
<tr><td>Benjamin</td></tr>
</table></div>
<div><table>
<tr><td>Sam</td></tr>
</table></div>
<div><table>
<tr><td>Glen</td></tr>
<tr><td>Tane</td></tr>
<tr><td>Ralph</td></tr>
<tr><td>David</td></tr>
<tr><td>Mike</td></tr>
<tr><td>Dan</td></tr>
</table></div>
<span>
tr<span id="inner"></span>
</span>
<script>
$("button").click(function () {
var str = $(this).text();
$("tr").css("background", "white");
$("tr" + str).css("background", "#ff0000");
$("#inner").text(str);
});
</script>
</body>
</html>