Descendant Selector (“ancestor descendant”)


descendant selector

Description: Selects all elements that are descendants of a given ancestor.

  • version added: 1.0jQuery( "ancestor descendant" )

    ancestor: Any valid selector.

    descendant: A selector to filter the descendant elements.

A descendant of an element could be a child, grandchild, great-grandchild, and so on, of that element.

Example:

Mark all inputs that are descendants of a form with a dotted blue border. Give a yellow background to inputs that are descendants of a fieldset that is a descendant of a form.

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<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<title>descendant demo</title>
<style>
form {
border: 2px green solid;
padding: 2px;
margin: 0;
background: #efe;
}
div {
color: red;
}
fieldset {
margin: 1px;
padding: 3px;
}
</style>
<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.7.0.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
<form>
<div>Form is surrounded by the green border.</div>
<label for="name">Child of form:</label>
<input name="name" id="name">
<fieldset>
<label for="newsletter">Grandchild of form, child of fieldset:</label>
<input name="newsletter" id="newsletter">
</fieldset>
</form>
Sibling to form: <input name="none">
<script>
$( "form input" ).css( "border", "2px dotted blue" );
$( "form fieldset input" ).css( "backgroundColor", "yellow" );
</script>
</body>
</html>

Demo: