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Child Selectors in CSS: The Nuances of '>' and Space

In CSS, selecting elements can be achieved using various selectors, including nesting, where one element is placed within another. When nesting, the choice of symbols ('>' or space) can lead to different results.

Question:

What is the distinction between using '>' and a space in a CSS child selector? Specifically, what is the difference when using the following syntax?

div.card > div.name

versus

div.card div.name

Answer:

The difference lies in the scope of the selection.

• '>' (Direct Child Selector): This indicates that the targeted element ('div.name') must be a direct child of the parent element ('div.card'). In other words, there cannot be any other elements between 'div.card' and 'div.name'.
• Space (Descendant Selector): This selects all elements ('div.name') that are descendants of the parent element ('div.card'). This means that 'div.name' can be a direct or an indirect child of 'div.card'. In other words, 'div.name' can exist anywhere inside 'div.card', even with other elements in between.

In the example provided, 'div.card > div.name' would only select elements with class 'name' that are immediately nested within elements with class 'card'. On the other hand, 'div.card div.name' would select any element with class 'name' that appears anywhere inside an element with class 'card'.