`:scope` CSS pseudo-class

The :scope CSS pseudo-class represents elements that are a reference point, or scope, for selectors to match against.

/* Selects a scoped element */
:scope {
  background-color: lime;
}

Which element(s) :scope matches depends on the context in which it is used:

• When used at the root level of a stylesheet, :scope is equivalent to :root, which in a regular HTML document matches the <html> element.
• When used inside a @scope block, :scope matches the block's defined scope root. It provides a way to apply styles to the root of the scope from inside the @scope block itself.
• When used within a DOM API call — such as querySelector(), querySelectorAll(), matches(), or Element.closest() — :scope matches the element on which the method was called.

Syntax

:scope {
  /* ... */
}

Examples

Using :scope as an alternative to :root

This example shows that :scope is equivalent to :root when used at the root level of a stylesheet. In this case, the provided CSS colors the background of the <html> element orange.

:scope {
  background-color: orange;
}

Using :scope to style the scope root in a @scope block

In this example, we use two separate @scope blocks to match links inside elements with a .light-scheme and .dark-scheme class respectively. Note how :scope is used to select and provide styling to the scope roots themselves. In this example, the scope roots are the <div> elements that have the classes applied to them.

HTML

<div class="light-scheme">
  <p>
    MDN contains lots of information about
    <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML">HTML</a>,
    <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/CSS">CSS</a>, and
    <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript">JavaScript</a>.
  </p>
</div>

<div class="dark-scheme">
  <p>
    MDN contains lots of information about
    <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML">HTML</a>,
    <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/CSS">CSS</a>, and
    <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript">JavaScript</a>.
  </p>
</div>

CSS

div {
  padding: 10px;
}

@scope (.light-scheme) {
  :scope {
    background-color: plum;
  }

  a {
    color: indigo;
  }
}

@scope (.dark-scheme) {
  :scope {
    background-color: indigo;
    color: antiquewhite;
  }

  a {
    color: plum;
  }
}

Result

Using :scope in JavaScript

This example demonstrates using the :scope pseudo-class in JavaScript. This can be useful if you need to get a direct descendant of an already retrieved Element.

HTML

<div id="context">
  <div id="element-1">
    <div id="element-1-1"></div>
    <div id="element-1-2"></div>
  </div>
  <div id="element-2">
    <div id="element-2-1"></div>
  </div>
</div>
<p>
  Selected element ids :
  <span id="results"></span>
</p>

JavaScript

const context = document.getElementById("context");
const selected = context.querySelectorAll(":scope > div");

document.getElementById("results").textContent = [...selected]
  .map((element) => `#${element.id}`)
  .join(", ");

Result

The scope of context is the element with the id of context. The selected elements are the <div> elements that are direct children of that context — element-1 and element-2 — but not their descendants.

Sibling combinators to the right of :scope never match

The relationship defined by :scope is always ancestor-to-descendant from the scope root. Because of that, putting a sibling combinator to the right of :scope creates a selector that can never match, because no element can both be within the selector scope and also be a sibling of :scope.

:scope + p {
  color: red;
}

:scope ~ * {
  color: red;
}

Selectors that never match may trigger a warning in browser DevTools.

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• The @scope at-rule
• The :root pseudo-class
• Selection and traversal on the DOM tree
• Element.querySelector() and Element.querySelectorAll()
• Document.querySelector() and Document.querySelectorAll()
• DocumentFragment.querySelector() and DocumentFragment.querySelectorAll()