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:nth-of-type()

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.

The :nth-of-type() CSS pseudo-class matches elements based on their position among siblings of the same type (tag name).

Try it

dt {
  font-weight: bold;
}

dd {
  margin: 3px;
}

dd:nth-of-type(even) {
  border: 2px solid orange;
}

<dl>
  <dt>Vegetables:</dt>
  <dd>1. Tomatoes</dd>
  <dd>2. Cucumbers</dd>
  <dd>3. Mushrooms</dd>
  <dt>Fruits:</dt>
  <dd>4. Apples</dd>
  <dd>5. Mangos</dd>
  <dd>6. Pears</dd>
  <dd>7. Oranges</dd>
</dl>

Syntax

:nth-of-type(<An+B> | even | odd) {
  /* ... */
}

Parameters

The :nth-of-type() pseudo-class is specified with a single argument, which represents the pattern for matching elements.

See :nth-child for a more detailed explanation of its syntax.

Examples

Basic example

HTML

<div>
  <div>This element isn't counted.</div>
  <p>1st paragraph.</p>
  <p class="fancy">2nd paragraph.</p>
  <div>This element isn't counted.</div>
  <p class="fancy">3rd paragraph.</p>
  <p>4th paragraph.</p>
</div>

CSS

/* Odd paragraphs */
p:nth-of-type(2n + 1) {
  color: red;
}

/* Even paragraphs */
p:nth-of-type(2n) {
  color: blue;
}

/* First paragraph */
p:nth-of-type(1) {
  font-weight: bold;
}

/* This will match the 3rd paragraph as it will match elements which are 2n+1 AND have a class of fancy.
The second paragraph has a class of fancy but is not matched as it is not :nth-of-type(2n+1) */
p.fancy:nth-of-type(2n + 1) {
  text-decoration: underline;
}

Result

Note: There is no way to select the nth-of-class using this selector. The selector looks at the type only when creating the list of matches. You can however apply CSS to an element based on :nth-of-type location and a class, as shown in the example above.

Specifications

Specification
Selectors Level 4> # nth-of-type-pseudo>

Browser compatibility

	Desktop					Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Opera	Safari	Chrome Android	Firefox for Android	Opera Android	Safari on IOS	Samsung Internet	WebView Android	WebView on iOS
`:nth-of-type`	1	12 Before Edge 16, Microsoft Edge treats all unknown elements (such as custom elements) as the same element type.	3.5	9.5	3.1	18	4	10.1	2	1.0	2	2