What does the * do in CSS?

Question

What does the star do? What is it called? For me it is some kind of wild card. What is it called so I can read about it?

#div {
  *zoom: 1; /*this ... *
   zoom : 1;
   display: inline;
   *display: inline; /*... and this, whats the difference? *
}

I know what this means (all elements):

* {
..css code
}

Answer 1

In simple words, its the key to target css on different IE browser versions. It can also be called as an CSS Hack.

#div {
  *zoom: 1; /*Only works on IE7 and below*/
  zoom : 1;
  display: inline;
  *display: inline; /*Only works on IE7 and below*/
}

Means this CSS works only on IE7 and below. It's kind of a hack we can use to apply CSS on IE7 and below.

Here is how to target IE6, IE7, and IE8 Uniquely

#div{  
 color: red; /* all browsers, of course */  
 color : green\9; /* IE8 and below */  
 *color : yellow; /* IE7 and below */  
 _color : orange; /* IE6 */  
} 

CLICK HERE if you want learn more about browser specific CSS.