| Version |
|---|
| CSS2 |
| IE8+ | FF1+ | SA1.3+ | OP9.2+ | CH2+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full | Full | Full | Full | Full |
Syntax
Description
The universal selector matches any element type. It can be implied (and therefore omitted) if it isn’t the only component of the simple selector. The two selector examples shown here are equivalent:
*.warning {
⋮ declarations
}
.warning {
⋮ declarations
}It’s important not to confuse the universal selector with a wildcard character—the universal selector doesn’t match “zero or more elements.” Consider the following HTML fragment:
<body>
<div>
<h1>The <em>Universal</em> Selector</h1>
<p>We must <em>emphasize</em> the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>It's <em>not</em> a wildcard.</li>
<li>It matches elements regardless of <em>type</em>.</li>
</ul>
This is an <em>immediate</em> child of the division.
</div>
</body>
The selector div * em
will match the following em elements:
- “Universal” in the
h1element (*matches the<h1>) - “emphasize” in the
pelement (*matches the<p>) - “not” in the first
lielement (*matches the<ul>or the<li>) - “type” in the second
lielement (*matches the<ul>or the<li>)
However, it won’t match the
<em>immediate</em> element, since that’s an
immediate child of the div element—there’s nothing
between <div> and <em> for the
* to match.
Example
This rule set will be applied to every element in a document:
* {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}Compatibility
| Internet Explorer | Firefox | Safari | Opera | Chrome | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.5 | 6.0 | 7.0 | 8.0 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.5 | 1.3 | 2.0 | 3.1 | 4.0 | 9.2 | 9.5 | 10.0 | 2.0 |
| Buggy | Buggy | Buggy | Full | Full | Full | Full | Full | Full | Full | Full | Full | Full | Full | Full | Full | Full |
Internet Explorer
versions up to and including 6 exhibit the star HTML selector bug: selectors
that should fail, don’t. A descendant selector, such as *
html, shouldn’t match any elements, because the
html element is the top-most parent element and, as
such, it can’t be a descendant of any other element. However, Internet
Explorer versions 5.5 and 6 ignore the universal selector at the beginning
of this selector.
When the universal selector is immediately adjacent to an element type selector, Internet Explorer versions 6 and 7 will interpret the combination as a descendant selector instead of failing as they should.
In Internet Explorer 6 and 7, this selector will also select some inappropriate SGML elements such as the doctype declaration and comments.
In Opera 9.2, this selector will also match any recognized processing instructions.
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