Select first Descendant with CSS

Question

Is there anyway to select only the first descendant using CSS. For example, is there anyway to start at the .container element and style the <li class="example"> with a blue border, but not the <p class="example"> within it?

I know there are a ton of alternative ways to to this in CSS. But is there a way to do it with the exact code below? Meaning use only the selector classes .container and .example, leave the class .container exactly where it is within the HTML below, and use the exact HTML markup below.

<style>
    .container .example{
        border: 1px solid blue;
    }
</style>

<div>
    <div class="container">
        <ul>
            <li class="example"><p class="example"></p></li>
            <li class="example"><p class="example"></p></li>
        </ul>
    </div>
</div>

Answer 1

Do you mean the "direct child selector"?

.container > ul > li

..here it is your blue border:

.container > ul > li {
    border: solid 1px #00f;
}

..to only use classes, you can accomplish that with something like:

.container > * > .example{
    border: solid 1px #00f;
}

Select "first in hierarchy"

css2 way (and still the more robust, I think) was to add border to .example and remove from .example .example:

.example{
    border: solid 1px #00f;
}
.example .example{
    border: none;
}

In CSS3, you can do this:

:not(.example) > .example{
    border: solid 1px #00f;
}

just beware that this will not prevent .example > div > .example from getting the blue border too.. but it guarantees no .example that is direct child of another .example will get that style.

update: start with .container

what about .container :not(.example) > .example?

I don't thing you can do better with "clean" css (ie. single rule; without resetting etc.).

The meaning of not() selector is "match any item that doesn't match the selector", not "forbid this selector to match somewhere here in the rule"..