:scope

The :scope CSS pseudo-class represents elements that are a reference point for selectors to match against.

/* Selects a scoped element */
:scope {
  background-color: lime;
}

Currently, when used in a stylesheet, :scope is the same as :root, since there is not at this time a way to explicitly establish a scoped element. When used from a DOM API such as querySelector(), querySelectorAll(), matches(), or Element.closest(), :scope matches the element you called the method on.

Syntax

:scope

Example

Identity match

In this simple example, we demonstrate that using the :scope pseudo-class from the Element.matches() method matches the element on which it's called.

JavaScript

let paragraph = document.getElementById("para");
let output = document.getElementById("output");

if (paragraph.matches(":scope")) {
  output.innerText = "Yep, the element is its own scope as expected!";
}

HTML

<p id="para">
  This is a paragraph. It is not an interesting paragraph. Sorry about that.
</p>
<p id="output"></p>

Result

Direct children

A situation where the :scope pseudo-class prove to be useful is when you need to get direct descendant of an already retrieved Element.

JavaScript

var context = document.getElementById('context');
var selected = context.querySelectorAll(':scope > div');

document.getElementById('results').innerHTML = Array.prototype.map.call(selected, function (element) {
    return '#' + element.getAttribute('id');
}).join(', ');

HTML

<div id="context">
    <div id="element-1">
        <div id="element-1.1"></div>
        <div id="element-1.2"></div>
    </div>
    <div id="element-2">
        <div id="element-2.1"></div>
    </div>
</div>
<p>
    Selected elements ids :
    <span id="results"></span>
</p>

Result

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• The :root pseudo-class
• Locating DOM elements using selectors
• Element.querySelector() and Element.querySelectorAll()
• Document.querySelector() and Document.querySelectorAll()
• DocumentFragment.querySelector() and DocumentFragment.querySelectorAll()
• ParentNode.querySelector() and ParentNode.querySelectorAll()