CODEWITHSUNDEEP
csscss-selectors
gaurav oberoi
gaurav oberoi

Reputation: 463

:empty selector not working in css

i used :empty selector in .error class. the problem is that even when there is no content inside the div with class of error, the error class is not removed completely. when i tested in firebug, i found that the div still has some whitespace and when i remove that extra spaces, the div then disappears.

.error{ border:solid 1px #ff0000; color:#ff0000;}
.error:empty{ display:none;}

the div shows like this on debugging: 

<div class="error">     </div>

that extra spaces you see is the problem. Is there any way i can show &nbsp; in css to display:none ? pls help.

Upvotes: 22

Views: 27801

Answers (4)

Mqx
Mqx

Reputation: 381

If you only have specific elements as children you could try this:

.error:not(:has(yourChildElements)) {
   display: none;
}

Upvotes: 7

rptfrg
rptfrg

Reputation: 113

Here's an alternative:

.error:not(:has(*)) {
    display: none;
}

This will select a class if it has nothing inside.

Upvotes: 2

Arthur Khazbulatov
Arthur Khazbulatov

Reputation: 928

The :empty pseudo-class doesn't select elements, containing elements or text (and white space is text).

However, there is now the experimental :blank pseudo-class which selects elements, containing nothing or just white space, and .error:blank would select that <div> element. You should avoid using experimental features in your production code, though.

Upvotes: 2

Arun P Johny
Arun P Johny

Reputation: 388446

it is because <div class="error"> </div>(demo) is not empty, it has a text node as the child.

:empty

The :empty pseudo-class represents any element that has no children at all. Only element nodes and text (including whitespace) are considered. Comments or processing instructions do not affect whether an element is considered empty or not.

Try

<div class="error"></div>

Demo: Fiddle

Upvotes: 25

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