:focus-within

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since January 2020.

The :focus-within CSS pseudo-class matches an element if the element or any of its descendants are focused. In other words, it represents an element that is itself matched by the :focus pseudo-class or has a descendant that is matched by :focus. (This includes descendants in shadow trees.)

Try it

label {
  display: block;
  margin-top: 1em;
}

label:focus-within {
  font-weight: bold;
}

<form>
  <p>Which flavor would you like to order?</p>
  <label>Full Name: <input name="firstName" type="text" /></label>
  <label
    >Flavor:
    <select name="flavor">
      <option>Cherry</option>
      <option>Green Tea</option>
      <option>Moose Tracks</option>
      <option>Mint Chip</option>
    </select>
  </label>
</form>

This selector is useful, to take a common example, for highlighting an entire <form> container when the user focuses on one of its <input> fields.

Syntax

css
:focus-within {
  /* ... */
}

Examples

In this example, the form will receive special coloring styles when either text input receives focus.

HTML

html
<p>Try typing into this form.</p>

<form>
  <label for="given_name">Given Name:</label>
  <input id="given_name" type="text" />
  <br />
  <label for="family_name">Family Name:</label>
  <input id="family_name" type="text" />
</form>

CSS

css
form {
  border: 1px solid;
  color: gray;
  padding: 4px;
}

form:focus-within {
  background: #ff8;
  color: black;
}

input {
  margin: 4px;
}

Result

Specifications

Specification
Selectors Level 4
# the-focus-within-pseudo

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser

See also