:first-child

Baseline Widely available *

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since July 2015.

* Some parts of this feature may have varying levels of support.

The :first-child CSS pseudo-class represents the first element among a group of sibling elements.

Try it

Syntax

css
:first-child {
  /* ... */
}

Examples

Basic example

HTML

html
<div>
  <p>This text is selected!</p>
  <p>This text isn't selected.</p>
</div>

<div>
  <h2>This text isn't selected: it's not a `p`.</h2>
  <p>This text isn't selected.</p>
</div>

CSS

css
p:first-child {
  color: lime;
  background-color: black;
  padding: 5px;
}

Result

Styling a list

HTML

html
<ul>
  <li>Item 1</li>
  <li>Item 2</li>
  <li>
    Item 3
    <ul>
      <li>Item 3.1</li>
      <li>Item 3.2</li>
      <li>Item 3.3</li>
    </ul>
  </li>
</ul>

CSS

css
ul li {
  color: blue;
}

ul li:first-child {
  color: red;
  font-weight: bold;
}

Result

Specifications

Specification
Selectors Level 4
# first-child-pseudo

Browser compatibility

Report problems with this compatibility data on GitHub
desktopmobile
Chrome
Edge
Firefox
Opera
Safari
Chrome Android
Firefox for Android
Opera Android
Safari on iOS
Samsung Internet
WebView Android
WebView on iOS
:first-child
Matches elements with no parent

Legend

Tip: you can click/tap on a cell for more information.

Full support
Full support
No support
No support

See also