1 | # css-select [![NPM version](http://img.shields.io/npm/v/css-select.svg)](https://npmjs.org/package/css-select) [![Build Status](https://travis-ci.com/fb55/css-select.svg?branch=master)](http://travis-ci.com/fb55/css-select) [![Downloads](https://img.shields.io/npm/dm/css-select.svg)](https://npmjs.org/package/css-select) [![Coverage](https://coveralls.io/repos/fb55/css-select/badge.svg?branch=master)](https://coveralls.io/r/fb55/css-select)
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2 |
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3 | A CSS selector compiler and engine
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4 |
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5 | ## What?
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6 |
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7 | As a **compiler**, css-select turns CSS selectors into functions that tests if
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8 | elements match them.
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9 |
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10 | As an **engine**, css-select looks through a DOM tree, searching for elements.
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11 | Elements are tested "from the top", similar to how browsers execute CSS
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12 | selectors.
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13 |
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14 | In its default configuration, css-select queries the DOM structure of the
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15 | [`domhandler`](https://github.com/fb55/domhandler) module (also known as
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16 | htmlparser2 DOM). To query alternative DOM structures, see [`Options`](#options)
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17 | below.
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18 |
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19 | **Features:**
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20 |
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21 | - ๐ฌ Full implementation of CSS3 selectors, as well as most CSS4 selectors
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22 | - ๐งช Partial implementation of jQuery/Sizzle extensions (see
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23 | [cheerio-select](https://github.com/cheeriojs/cheerio-select) for the
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24 | remaining selectors)
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25 | - ๐งโ๐ฌ High test coverage, including the full test suites from Sizzle, Qwery and
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26 | NWMatcher.
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27 | - ๐ฅผ Reliably great performance
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28 |
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29 | ## Why?
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30 |
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31 | Most CSS engines written in JavaScript execute selectors left-to-right. That
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32 | means thet execute every component of the selector in order, from left to right
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33 | _(duh)_. As an example: For the selector `a b`, these engines will first query
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34 | for `a` elements, then search these for `b` elements. (That's the approach of
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35 | eg. [`Sizzle`](https://github.com/jquery/sizzle),
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36 | [`nwmatcher`](https://github.com/dperini/nwmatcher/) and
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37 | [`qwery`](https://github.com/ded/qwery).)
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38 |
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39 | While this works, it has some downsides: Children of `a`s will be checked
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40 | multiple times; first, to check if they are also `a`s, then, for every superior
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41 | `a` once, if they are `b`s. Using
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42 | [Big O notation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_O_notation), that would be
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43 | `O(n^(k+1))`, where `k` is the number of descendant selectors (that's the space
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44 | in the example above).
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45 |
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46 | The far more efficient approach is to first look for `b` elements, then check if
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47 | they have superior `a` elements: Using big O notation again, that would be
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48 | `O(n)`. That's called right-to-left execution.
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49 |
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50 | And that's what css-select does โ and why it's quite performant.
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51 |
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52 | ## How does it work?
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53 |
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54 | By building a stack of functions.
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55 |
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56 | _Wait, what?_
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57 |
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58 | Okay, so let's suppose we want to compile the selector `a b`, for right-to-left
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59 | execution. We start by _parsing_ the selector. This turns the selector into an
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60 | array of the building blocks. That's what the
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61 | [`css-what`](https://github.com/fb55/css-what) module is for, if you want to
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62 | have a look.
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63 |
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64 | Anyway, after parsing, we end up with an array like this one:
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65 |
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66 | ```js
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67 | [
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68 | { type: "tag", name: "a" },
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69 | { type: "descendant" },
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70 | { type: "tag", name: "b" },
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71 | ];
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72 | ```
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73 |
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74 | (Actually, this array is wrapped in another array, but that's another story,
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75 | involving commas in selectors.)
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76 |
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77 | Now that we know the meaning of every part of the selector, we can compile it.
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78 | That is where things become interesting.
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79 |
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80 | The basic idea is to turn every part of the selector into a function, which
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81 | takes an element as its only argument. The function checks whether a passed
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82 | element matches its part of the selector: If it does, the element is passed to
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83 | the next function representing the next part of the selector. That function does
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84 | the same. If an element is accepted by all parts of the selector, it _matches_
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85 | the selector and double rainbow ALL THE WAY.
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86 |
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87 | As said before, we want to do right-to-left execution with all the big O
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88 | improvements. That means elements are passed from the rightmost part of the
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89 | selector (`b` in our example) to the leftmost (~~which would be `c`~~ of course
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90 | `a`).
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91 |
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92 | For traversals, such as the _descendant_ operating the space between `a` and
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93 | `b`, we walk up the DOM tree, starting from the element passed as argument.
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94 |
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95 | _//TODO: More in-depth description. Implementation details. Build a spaceship._
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96 |
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97 | ## API
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98 |
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99 | ```js
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100 | const CSSselect = require("css-select");
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101 | ```
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102 |
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103 | **Note:** css-select throws errors when invalid selectors are passed to it.This
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104 | is done to aid with writing css selectors, but can be unexpected when processing
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105 | arbitrary strings.
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106 |
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107 | #### `CSSselect.selectAll(query, elems, options)`
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108 |
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109 | Queries `elems`, returns an array containing all matches.
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110 |
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111 | - `query` can be either a CSS selector or a function.
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112 | - `elems` can be either an array of elements, or a single element. If it is an
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113 | element, its children will be queried.
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114 | - `options` is described below.
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115 |
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116 | Aliases: `default` export, `CSSselect.iterate(query, elems)`.
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117 |
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118 | #### `CSSselect.compile(query, options)`
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119 |
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120 | Compiles the query, returns a function.
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121 |
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122 | #### `CSSselect.is(elem, query, options)`
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123 |
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124 | Tests whether or not an element is matched by `query`. `query` can be either a
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125 | CSS selector or a function.
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126 |
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127 | #### `CSSselect.selectOne(query, elems, options)`
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128 |
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129 | Arguments are the same as for `CSSselect.selectAll(query, elems)`. Only returns
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130 | the first match, or `null` if there was no match.
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131 |
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132 | ### Options
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133 |
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134 | All options are optional.
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135 |
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136 | - `xmlMode`: When enabled, tag names will be case-sensitive. Default: `false`.
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137 | - `rootFunc`: The last function in the stack, will be called with the last
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138 | element that's looked at.
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139 | - `adapter`: The adapter to use when interacting with the backing DOM
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140 | structure. By default it uses the `domutils` module.
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141 | - `context`: The context of the current query. Used to limit the scope of
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142 | searches. Can be matched directly using the `:scope` pseudo-selector.
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143 | - `cacheResults`: Allow css-select to cache results for some selectors,
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144 | sometimes greatly improving querying performance. Disable this if your
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145 | document can change in between queries with the same compiled selector.
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146 | Default: `true`.
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147 |
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148 | #### Custom Adapters
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149 |
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150 | A custom adapter must match the interface described
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151 | [here](https://github.com/fb55/css-select/blob/1aa44bdd64aaf2ebdfd7f338e2e76bed36521957/src/types.ts#L6-L96).
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152 |
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153 | You may want to have a look at [`domutils`](https://github.com/fb55/domutils) to
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154 | see the default implementation, or at
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155 | [`css-select-browser-adapter`](https://github.com/nrkn/css-select-browser-adapter/blob/master/index.js)
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156 | for an implementation backed by the DOM.
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157 |
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158 | ## Supported selectors
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159 |
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160 | _As defined by CSS 4 and / or jQuery._
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161 |
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162 | - [Selector lists](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Selector_list)
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163 | (`,`)
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164 | - [Universal](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Universal_selectors)
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165 | (`*`)
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166 | - [Type](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Type_selectors)
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167 | (`<tagname>`)
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168 | - [Descendant](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Descendant_combinator)
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169 | (` `)
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170 | - [Child](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Child_combinator)
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171 | (`>`)
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172 | - Parent (`<`)
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173 | - [Adjacent sibling](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Adjacent_sibling_combinator)
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174 | (`+`)
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175 | - [General sibling](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/General_sibling_combinator)
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176 | (`~`)
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177 | - [Attribute](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Attribute_selectors)
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178 | (`[attr=foo]`), with supported comparisons:
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179 | - `[attr]` (existential)
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180 | - `=`
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181 | - `~=`
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182 | - `|=`
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183 | - `*=`
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184 | - `^=`
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185 | - `$=`
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186 | - `!=`
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187 | - `i` and `s` can be added after the comparison to make the comparison
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188 | case-insensitive or case-sensitive (eg. `[attr=foo i]`). If neither is
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189 | supplied, css-select will follow the HTML spec's
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190 | [case-sensitivity rules](https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/semantics-other.html#case-sensitivity-of-selectors).
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191 | - Pseudos:
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192 | - [`:not`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:not)
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193 | - [`:contains`](https://api.jquery.com/contains-selector)
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194 | - `:icontains` (case-insensitive version of `:contains`)
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195 | - [`:has`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:has)
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196 | - [`:root`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:root)
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197 | - [`:empty`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:empty)
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198 | - [`:parent`](https://api.jquery.com/parent-selector)
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199 | - [`:first-child`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:first-child),
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200 | [`:last-child`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:last-child),
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201 | [`:first-of-type`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:first-of-type),
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202 | [`:last-of-type`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:last-of-type)
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203 | - [`:only-of-type`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:only-of-type),
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204 | [`:only-child`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:only-child)
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205 | - [`:nth-child`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:nth-child),
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206 | [`:nth-last-child`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:nth-last-child),
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207 | [`:nth-of-type`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:nth-of-type),
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208 | [`:nth-last-of-type`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:nth-last-of-type),
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209 | - [`:link`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:link),
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210 | [`:any-link`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:any-link)
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211 | - [`:visited`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:visited),
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212 | [`:hover`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:hover),
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213 | [`:active`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:active)
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214 | (these depend on optional `Adapter` methods, so these will only match
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215 | elements if implemented in `Adapter`)
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216 | - [`:selected`](https://api.jquery.com/selected-selector),
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217 | [`:checked`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:checked)
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218 | - [`:enabled`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:enabled),
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219 | [`:disabled`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:disabled)
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220 | - [`:required`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:required),
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221 | [`:optional`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:optional)
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222 | - [`:header`](https://api.jquery.com/header-selector),
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223 | [`:button`](https://api.jquery.com/button-selector),
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224 | [`:input`](https://api.jquery.com/input-selector),
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225 | [`:text`](https://api.jquery.com/text-selector),
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226 | [`:checkbox`](https://api.jquery.com/checkbox-selector),
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227 | [`:file`](https://api.jquery.com/file-selector),
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228 | [`:password`](https://api.jquery.com/password-selector),
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229 | [`:reset`](https://api.jquery.com/reset-selector),
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230 | [`:radio`](https://api.jquery.com/radio-selector) etc.
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231 | - [`:is`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:is), plus its
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232 | legacy alias `:matches`
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233 | - [`:scope`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:scope)
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234 | (uses the context from the passed options)
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235 |
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236 | ---
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237 |
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238 | License: BSD-2-Clause
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239 |
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240 | ## Security contact information
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241 |
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242 | To report a security vulnerability, please use the
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243 | [Tidelift security contact](https://tidelift.com/security). Tidelift will
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244 | coordinate the fix and disclosure.
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245 |
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246 | ## `css-select` for enterprise
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247 |
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248 | Available as part of the Tidelift Subscription
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249 |
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250 | The maintainers of `css-select` and thousands of other packages are working with
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251 | Tidelift to deliver commercial support and maintenance for the open source
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252 | dependencies you use to build your applications. Save time, reduce risk, and
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253 | improve code health, while paying the maintainers of the exact dependencies you
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254 | use.
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255 | [Learn more.](https://tidelift.com/subscription/pkg/npm-css-select?utm_source=npm-css-select&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=enterprise&utm_term=repo)
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