:nth-child() Selector

nth-child selector

Description: Selects all elements that are the nth-child of their parent.

version added: 1.1.4jQuery( ":nth-child(index/even/odd/equation)" )

index: The index of each child to match, starting with 1, the string even or odd, or an equation ( eg. :nth-child(even), :nth-child(4n) )

Because jQuery's implementation of :nth- selectors is strictly derived from the CSS specification, the value of n is "1-indexed", meaning that the counting starts at 1. For other selector expressions such as :eq() or :even jQuery follows JavaScript's "0-indexed" counting. Given a single <ul> containing two <li>s, $( "li:nth-child(1)" ) selects the first <li> while $( "li:eq(1)" ) selects the second.

The :nth-child(n) pseudo-class is easily confused with :eq(n), even though the two can result in dramatically different matched elements. With :nth-child(n), all children are counted, regardless of what they are, and the specified element is selected only if it matches the selector attached to the pseudo-class. With :eq(n) only the selector attached to the pseudo-class is counted, not limited to children of any other element, and the (n+1)th one (n is 0-based) is selected.

Further discussion of this unusual usage can be found in the W3C CSS specification.

Examples:

Find the second li in each matched ul and note it.

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <title>nth-child demo</title>
  <style>
  div {
    float: left;
  }
  span {
    color: blue;
  }
  </style>
  <script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.10.2.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
 
<div>
  <ul>
    <li>John</li>
    <li>Karl</li>
    <li>Brandon</li>
  </ul>
</div>
<div>
  <ul>
    <li>Sam</li>
  </ul>
</div>
<div>
  <ul>
    <li>Glen</li>
    <li>Tane</li>
    <li>Ralph</li>
    <li>David</li>
  </ul>
</div>
 
<script>
$( "ul li:nth-child(2)" ).append( "<span> - 2nd!</span>" );
</script>
 
</body>
</html>

Demo:

This is a playground to see how the selector works with different strings. Notice that this is different from the :even and :odd which have no regard for parent and just filter the list of elements to every other one. The :nth-child, however, counts the index of the child to its particular parent. In any case, it's easier to see than explain so...

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <title>nth-child demo</title>
  <style>
  button {
    display: block;
    font-size: 12px;
    width: 100px;
  }
  div {
    float: left;
    margin: 10px;
    font-size: 10px;
    border: 1px solid black;
  }
  span {
    color: blue;
    font-size: 18px;
  }
  #inner {
    color: red;
  }
  td {
    width: 50px;
    text-align: center;
  }
  </style>
  <script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.10.2.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
 
<div>
  <button>:nth-child(even)</button>
  <button>:nth-child(odd)</button>
  <button>:nth-child(3n)</button>
  <button>:nth-child(2)</button>
</div>
<div>
  <button>:nth-child(3n+1)</button>
  <button>:nth-child(3n+2)</button>
  <button>:even</button>
  <button>:odd</button>
</div>
 
<div>
  <table>
    <tr><td>John</td></tr>
    <tr><td>Karl</td></tr>
    <tr><td>Brandon</td></tr>
    <tr><td>Benjamin</td></tr>
  </table>
</div>
<div>
  <table>
    <tr><td>Sam</td></tr>
  </table>
</div>
<div>
  <table>
    <tr><td>Glen</td></tr>
    <tr><td>Tane</td></tr>
    <tr><td>Ralph</td></tr>
    <tr><td>David</td></tr>
    <tr><td>Mike</td></tr>
    <tr><td>Dan</td></tr>
  </table>
</div>
 
<span>tr<span id="inner"></span></span>
 
<script>
$( "button" ).click(function() {
  var str = $( this ).text();
  $( "tr" ).css( "background", "white" );
  $( "tr" + str ).css( "background", "#ff0000" );
  $( "#inner" ).text( str );
});
</script>
 
</body>
</html>