Special Characters and Functions in CSS
This article explains special characters and functions in CSS.
You can learn about special characters and functions like calc() and var() in CSS.
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1<!DOCTYPE html>
2<html lang="en">
3<head>
4 <meta charset="UTF-8">
5 <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
6 <title>CSS Pseudo Class/Element</title>
7 <link rel="stylesheet" href="css-base.css">
8 <link rel="stylesheet" href="css-escape-and-function.css">
9</head>
10<body>
11 <!-- Header -->
12 <header>
13 <h1>CSS Special Characters & Functions</h1>
14 </header>
15
16 <!-- Main content -->
17 <main>
18 <header><h2>CSS Special Characters</h2></header>
19 <article>
20 <h3>CSS Special Characters</h3>
21 <section>
22 <header><h4>CSS</h4></header>
23<pre class="sample">
24#my\#id {
25 color: red;
26}
27
28#my\.id {
29 color: red;
30}
31
32#my\[id\] {
33 color: red;
34}
35</pre>
36 <header><h4>HTML</h4></header>
37<pre>
38<div id="my.id">Dot Example</div>
39<div id="my[id]">Bracket Example</div>
40<div id="my#id">Sharp Example</div>
41</pre>
42 <header><h4>HTML+CSS</h4></header>
43 <section class="sample-view">
44 <div id="my#id">Sharp Example</div>
45 <div id="my.id">Dot Example</div>
46 <div id="my[id]">Bracket Example</div>
47 </section>
48 </section>
49 </article>
50 <article>
51 <h3>CSS Special Characters</h3>
52 <section>
53 <header><h4>CSS</h4></header>
54<pre class="sample">
55.\31 23abc {
56 font-weight: bold;
57 color: blue;
58}
59</pre>
60 <header><h4>HTML</h4></header>
61<pre>
62<div class="123abc">Numeric Class</div>
63</pre>
64 <header><h4>HTML+CSS</h4></header>
65 <section class="sample-view">
66 <div class="123abc">Numeric Class</div>
67 </section>
68 </section>
69 </article>
70 <article>
71 <h3>CSS Special Characters</h3>
72 <section>
73 <header><h4>CSS</h4></header>
74<pre class="sample">
75.content-unicode::before {
76 content: "\00A9"; /* copyright mark */
77 color: blue;
78}
79
80.content-backslash::after {
81 content: " : \\";
82 color: blue;
83}
84</pre>
85 <header><h4>HTML</h4></header>
86<pre>
87<div class="content-unicode">Copyright</div>
88<div class="content-backslash">This is a backslash example</div>
89</pre>
90 <header><h4>HTML+CSS</h4></header>
91 <section class="sample-view">
92 <div class="content-unicode">Copyright</div>
93 <div class="content-backslash">This is a backslash example</div>
94 </section>
95 </section>
96 </article>
97 <article>
98 <h3>CSS Special Characters</h3>
99 <section>
100 <header><h4>CSS</h4></header>
101<pre class="sample">
102.user\@name {
103 color: green;
104}
105
106#section\$ {
107 font-size: 24px;
108 color: blue;
109}
110</pre>
111 <header><h4>HTML</h4></header>
112<pre>
113<div class="user@name">User</div>
114<div id="section$">Section</div>
115</pre>
116 <header><h4>HTML+CSS</h4></header>
117 <section class="sample-view">
118 <div class="user@name">User</div>
119 <div id="section$">Section</div>
120 </section>
121 </section>
122 </article>
123 </main>
124
125 <main>
126 <header><h2>CSS Functions</h2></header>
127 <article>
128 <h3>calc()</h3>
129 <section>
130 <header><h4>CSS</h4></header>
131<pre class="sample">
132p.calc-width {
133 width: calc(50% - 10px);
134}
135</pre>
136 <header><h4>HTML</h4></header>
137<pre>
138<p class="calc-width">
139 <span>First Text</span>
140</p>
141</pre>
142 <header><h4>HTML+CSS</h4></header>
143 <section class="sample-view">
144 <p class="calc-width">
145 <span>First Text</span>
146 </p>
147 </section>
148 </section>
149 </article>
150 <article>
151 <h3>rgb() / rgba()</h3>
152 <section>
153 <header><h4>CSS</h4></header>
154<pre class="sample">
155p.rgb {
156 background-color: rgb(255, 0, 0);
157}
158
159p.rgb span {
160 background-color: rgba(0, 255, 0, 0.5);
161}
162</pre>
163 <header><h4>HTML</h4></header>
164<pre>
165<p class="rgb">
166 <span>First Text</span>
167</p>
168</pre>
169 <header><h4>HTML+CSS</h4></header>
170 <section class="sample-view">
171 <p class="rgb">
172 <span>First Text</span>
173 </p>
174 </section>
175 </section>
176 </article>
177 <article>
178 <h3>hsl() / hsla()</h3>
179 <section>
180 <header><h4>CSS</h4></header>
181<pre class="sample">
182p.hsl {
183 /* Specify hue, saturation, and lightness */
184 background-color: hsl(240, 25%, 50%);
185}
186
187p.hsl span {
188 /* Specification with transparency */
189 background-color: hsla(120, 100%, 50%, 0.5);
190}
191</pre>
192 <header><h4>HTML</h4></header>
193<pre>
194<p class="hsl">
195 <span>First Text</span>
196</p>
197</pre>
198 <header><h4>HTML+CSS</h4></header>
199 <section class="sample-view">
200 <p class="hsl">
201 <span>First Text</span>
202 </p>
203 </section>
204 </section>
205 </article>
206 <article>
207 <h3>url()</h3>
208 <section>
209 <header><h4>CSS</h4></header>
210<pre class="sample">
211div.bg-image {
212 background-image: url('image.jpg');
213}
214</pre>
215 <header><h4>HTML</h4></header>
216<pre>
217<div class="bg-image">
218 <span>First Text</span>
219</div>
220</pre>
221 <header><h4>HTML+CSS</h4></header>
222 <section class="sample-view">
223 <div class="bg-image">
224 <span>First Text</span>
225 </div>
226 </section>
227 </section>
228 </article>
229 <article>
230 <h3>var()</h3>
231 <section>
232 <header><h4>CSS</h4></header>
233<pre class="sample">
234/* Definition of custom properties */
235:root {
236 --main-color: #3498db;
237}
238
239/* Use of custom properties */
240p.main-color {
241 color: var(--main-color);
242}
243</pre>
244 <header><h4>HTML</h4></header>
245<pre>
246<p class="main-color">
247 <span>First Text</span>
248</p>
249</pre>
250 <header><h4>HTML+CSS</h4></header>
251 <section class="sample-view">
252 <p class="main-color">
253 <span>First Text</span>
254 </p>
255 </section>
256 </section>
257 </article>
258 <article>
259 <h3>attr()</h3>
260 <section>
261 <header><h4>CSS</h4></header>
262<pre class="sample">
263/* Example of using the attr() function */
264a::after {
265 content: " (" attr(title) ")";
266}
267</pre>
268 <header><h4>HTML</h4></header>
269<pre>
270<a href="#section1" title="Section 1">Click here</a>
271</pre>
272 <header><h4>HTML+CSS</h4></header>
273 <section class="sample-view">
274 <a href="#section1" title="Section 1">Click here</a>
275 </section>
276 </section>
277 </article>
278 <article>
279 <h3>min() / max() / clamp()</h3>
280 <section>
281 <header><h4>CSS</h4></header>
282<pre class="sample">
283div.min {
284 /* Use the smaller value between 100% and 500px as the width */
285 width: min(100%, 500px);
286}
287div.max {
288 /* Use the larger value between 100% and 500px as the width */
289 width: max(100%, 500px);
290}
291div.clamp {
292 /* Adjust to fit within the range of 300px to 600px */
293 width: clamp(100px, 30%, 400px);
294}
295</pre>
296 <header><h4>HTML</h4></header>
297<pre>
298<div class="min">min(100%, 500px)</div>
299<div class="max">max(100%, 500px)</div>
300<div class="clamp">clamp(100px, 30%, 400px)</div>
301</pre>
302 <header><h4>HTML+CSS</h4></header>
303 <section class="sample-view">
304 <div class="min">min(100%, 500px)</div>
305 <div class="max">max(100%, 500px)</div>
306 <div class="clamp">clamp(100px, 30%, 400px)</div>
307 </section>
308 </section>
309 </article>
310 <article>
311 <h3>repeat()</h3>
312 <section>
313 <header><h4>CSS</h4></header>
314<pre class="sample">
315/* Set three columns to be evenly spaced */
316grid-template-columns: repeat(3, 1fr);
317</pre>
318 </section>
319 </article>
320 <article>
321 <h3>linear-gradient() / radial-gradient() / conic-gradient()</h3>
322 <section>
323 <header><h4>CSS</h4></header>
324<pre class="sample">
325div.linear-gradient {
326 /* Linear gradient */
327 background: linear-gradient(to right, red, blue);
328}
329div.radial-gradient {
330 /* Radial gradient */
331 background: radial-gradient(circle, red, blue);
332}
333div.conic-gradient {
334 /* Conic gradient */
335 background: conic-gradient(from 0deg, red, yellow, blue, red);
336}
337</pre>
338 <header><h4>HTML</h4></header>
339<pre>
340<div class="linear-gradient">linear-gradient</div>
341<div class="radial-gradient">radial-gradient</div>
342<div class="conic-gradient">radial-gradient</div>
343</pre>
344 <header><h4>HTML+CSS</h4></header>
345 <section class="sample-view">
346 <div class="linear-gradient">linear-gradient</div>
347 <div class="radial-gradient">radial-gradient</div>
348 <div class="conic-gradient">conic-gradient</div>
349 </section>
350 </section>
351 </article>
352 </main>
353</body>
354</html>Special Characters and Escaping in CSS
CSS escape characters are techniques for safely handling certain characters. By escaping special symbols or characters with syntactic meaning, you can safely use them within selectors or strings.
Overview of CSS Escape Characters
CSS escaping is a mechanism to escape certain characters or unicode so that they can be used in selectors following specific syntactic rules. For example, when HTML element IDs or class names contain special symbols (#, @, . etc.), or when dealing with class names or IDs starting with numbers, escape characters are useful.
Escaping is primarily used for the following purposes:
- Using special characters as selectors
- Handling IDs or class names that start with numbers
- Escaping special symbols or non-ASCII characters
Basic Escape Syntax
Escape characters are written in CSS using the backslash (\). By placing a backslash before the characters to be escaped, they are interpreted as normal characters.
Escaping Special Characters
1<div id="my#id">Sharp Example</div>
2<div id="my.id">Dot Example</div>
3<div id="my[id]">Bracket Example</div> 1#my\#id {
2 color: red;
3}
4
5#my\.id {
6 color: red;
7}
8
9#my\[id\] {
10 color: red;
11}- As in this example, escaping is necessary when using special characters within CSS selectors.
#,.,[, and]are special characters in CSS. If these characters are included in IDs, escaping is necessary.
Escaping IDs or Class Names Starting with Numbers
1<div class="123abc">Numeric Class</div>1.\31 23abc {
2 font-weight: bold;
3 color: blue;
4}- In CSS, if an ID or class name starts with a number, writing it directly is invalid. In such cases, use escaping.
- Here, we are escaping the leading
1in123abc.1is represented as UnicodeU+0031and escaped with a backslash and space as\31.
Escaping Unicode Characters
1/* Example: Escaping Unicode characters */
2.content-unicode::before {
3 content: "\00A9"; /* copyright symbol */
4 color: blue;
5}- When escaping Unicode characters, specify a 6-digit hexadecimal number after the backslash.
- This code shows how to display © (copyright symbol) in CSS.
Escaping Within Strings
1.content-backslash::after {
2 content: " : \\";
3 color: blue;
4}- When using a backslash in strings within CSS (like the
contentproperty), it must be a double backslash. - In this example,
\\is written to display a backslash in the string.
Practical Example: Styling HTML Elements with Special Characters
1<div class="user@name">User</div>
2<div id="section$">Section</div> 1/* When the class name contains special characters */
2.user\@name {
3 color: green;
4}
5
6/* When the ID contains special characters */
7#section\$ {
8 font-size: 24px;
9 color: blue;
10}- Here, we are escaping elements that contain special characters
@and$.
Summary
CSS escape characters are very useful for correctly handling selectors and strings in special cases. Understanding when escaping is necessary helps avoid errors when styling complex HTML elements. Especially when dealing with class names or IDs starting with special characters or numbers, escaping with a backslash is essential.
Functions in CSS
In CSS, you can use functions to dynamically specify or calculate styles. Here, we introduce some typical CSS functions.
calc()
1p.calc-width {
2 /* Specify the value obtained by subtracting 10px from 50% width */
3 width: calc(50% - 10px);
4 background-color: #eee;
5}- The
calc()function is used to dynamically calculate values like width and height of elements. You can use the+,-,*,/operators to combine relative values (%) and absolute values (px) in layouts.
rgb() / rgba()
1p.rgb {
2 /* Color specification for red, green, and blue */
3 background-color: rgb(255, 0, 0);
4}
5
6p.rgb span {
7 /* Color specification with transparency */
8 background-color: rgba(0, 255, 0, 0.5);
9}- The
rgb()andrgba()functions are used to specify colors.rgb()specifies three values for red, green, and blue (ranging from 0 to 255), whilergba()also includes an alpha value for transparency.
hsl() / hsla()
1p.hsl {
2 /* Specify hue, saturation, and lightness */
3 background-color: hsl(240, 25%, 50%);
4}
5
6p.hsl span {
7 /* Specification with transparency */
8 background-color: hsla(120, 100%, 50%, 0.5);
9}hsl()andhsla()use hue, saturation, and lightness to specify colors.hsla()can also specify transparency.
url()
1div.bg-image {
2 background-image: url('image.jpg');
3}- The
url()function is used to specify paths to background images or other resources.
var()
1/* Definition of custom properties */
2:root {
3 --main-color: #3498db;
4}
5
6/* Use of custom properties */
7p.main-color {
8 color: var(--main-color);
9}- The
var()function is used to work with custom properties (CSS variables). You can define CSS variables and use them in other properties.
attr()
1/* Example of using the attr() function */
2a::after {
3 content: " (" attr(title) ")";
4}attr()function is used to utilize HTML attribute values in CSS styles. It is mainly used within thecontentproperty of pseudo-elements to dynamically display attribute values of elements. However, it requires caution as browser support is limited.
min() / max() / clamp()
1div.min {
2 /* Use the smaller value between 100% and 500px as the width */
3 width: min(100%, 500px);
4 background-color: lightsteelblue;
5}
6div.max {
7 /* Use the larger value between 100% and 500px as the width */
8 width: max(100%, 500px);
9 background-color: lightsteelblue;
10}
11div.clamp {
12 /* Adjust to fit within the range of 100px to 400px */
13 width: clamp(100px, 30%, 400px);
14 background-color: lightsteelblue;
15}These functions are used to dynamically determine values.
min()selects the smallest value from a set of values.max()selects the largest value from a set of values.clamp()adjusts a value within a range between a minimum, recommended, and maximum value.
repeat()
1/* Set three columns to be evenly spaced */
2grid-template-columns: repeat(3, 1fr);The repeat() function is used with grid-template-columns and grid-template-rows to create repeating patterns.
linear-gradient() / radial-gradient()
1div.linear-gradient {
2 /* Linear gradient */
3 background: linear-gradient(to right, red, blue);
4}
5div.radial-gradient {
6 /* Radial gradient */
7 background: radial-gradient(circle, red, blue);
8}
9div.conic-gradient {
10 /* Conic gradient */
11 background: conic-gradient(from 0deg, red, yellow, blue, red);
12}- These functions are used to create gradients.
linear-gradientcreates a linear gradient.radial-gradientcreates a radial gradient. You can specifyeclipseinstead ofcircleto create an elliptical gradient.conic-gradientcreates a gradient that changes color based on angles around a circle's center.
Summary
CSS functions are extremely useful for setting flexible layouts and styles. By effectively using these, you can achieve more dynamic and responsive designs.
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