:only-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 :only-child CSS pseudo-class represents an element without any siblings. This is the same as :first-child:last-child or :nth-child(1):nth-last-child(1), but with a lower specificity.

Try it

Syntax

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

Examples

Basic example

HTML

html
<div>
  <div>I am an only child.</div>
</div>

<div>
  <div>I am the 1st sibling.</div>
  <div>I am the 2nd sibling.</div>
  <div>
    I am the 3rd sibling,
    <div>but this is an only child.</div>
  </div>
</div>

CSS

css
div:only-child {
  color: red;
}

div {
  display: inline-block;
  margin: 6px;
  outline: 1px solid;
}

Result

A list example

HTML

html
<ol>
  <li>
    First
    <ul>
      <li>This list has just one element.</li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
    Second
    <ul>
      <li>This list has three elements.</li>
      <li>This list has three elements.</li>
      <li>This list has three elements.</li>
    </ul>
  </li>
</ol>

CSS

css
li li {
  list-style-type: disc;
}

li:only-child {
  color: red;
  list-style-type: square;
}

Result

Specifications

Specification
Selectors Level 4
# only-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
:only-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