:only-child

Baseline Widely available *

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since July 2015.

* Some parts of this feature may have varying levels of support.

The :only-child CSS pseudo-class represents an element without any siblings. This is the same as :first-child:last-child or :nth-child(1):nth-last-child(1), but with a lower specificity.

Try it

li:only-child {
  color: fuchsia;
}

b:only-child {
  text-decoration: underline;
}

<p>Stars expected to attend:</p>
<ol>
  <li>Robert Downey, Jr.</li>
</ol>

<p>Stars yet to confirm:</p>
<ol>
  <li>Scarlett Johansson</li>
  <li>Samuel L. Jackson</li>
  <li>Chris Pratt</li>
</ol>

<p>The ceremony is going to be held in <b>The Dolby Theatre</b>.</p>

Syntax

:only-child {
  /* ... */
}

Examples

Basic example

HTML

<div>
  <div>I am an only child.</div>
</div>

<div>
  <div>I am the 1st sibling.</div>
  <div>I am the 2nd sibling.</div>
  <div>
    I am the 3rd sibling,
    <div>but this is an only child.</div>
  </div>
</div>

CSS

div:only-child {
  color: red;
}

div {
  display: inline-block;
  margin: 6px;
  outline: 1px solid;
}

Result

A list example

HTML

<ol>
  <li>
    First
    <ul>
      <li>This list has just one element.</li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
    Second
    <ul>
      <li>This list has three elements.</li>
      <li>This list has three elements.</li>
      <li>This list has three elements.</li>
    </ul>
  </li>
</ol>

CSS

li li {
  list-style-type: disc;
}

li:only-child {
  color: red;
  list-style-type: square;
}

Result

Specifications

Specification
Selectors Level 4
# only-child-pseudo

Browser compatibility

Desktop Mobile
Chrome Edge Firefox Opera Safari Chrome Android Firefox for Android Opera Android Safari on IOS Samsung Internet WebView Android
:only-child 2 12 1.5 9.5 3.1 18 4 10.1 2 1.0 4.4
no_parent_required 57 79 52 44 No 57 52 43 No 7.0 57

See also

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Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License v2.5 or later.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:only-child