Why Starts-with and ends-with selectors in CSS? - Purpose & Use Cases

The Big Idea

Discover how a few simple symbols can save you hours of tedious CSS work!

The Scenario

Imagine you have a long list of product codes on a webpage. You want to highlight all products whose codes start with "A" or end with "Z" by changing their color.

The Problem

If you try to do this manually, you must write separate CSS rules for each exact code or add special classes to each item. This is slow, error-prone, and hard to maintain when new products are added.

The Solution

Starts-with and ends-with selectors let you target elements based on the beginning or ending of attribute values. This means you can write one rule to style all matching items automatically.

Before vs After

✗ Before

li[data-code='A123'] { color: red; }
li[data-code='A456'] { color: red; }
li[data-code='XYZ'] { color: blue; }

✓ After

li[data-code^='A'] { color: red; }
li[data-code$='Z'] { color: blue; }

What It Enables

You can style groups of elements dynamically based on attribute patterns without extra HTML changes.

Real Life Example

On an online store, highlight all items starting with "NEW" to show new arrivals, or all items ending with "-sale" to mark discounted products.

Key Takeaways

Manual styling for many similar items is slow and error-prone.

Starts-with (^=) and ends-with ($=) selectors target attribute values by their start or end.

This makes styling dynamic groups easy and maintainable.

Practice

1. Which CSS selector targets all elements with an href attribute that starts with "https"?

easy

A. a[href*="https"]

B. a[href$="https"]

C. a[href^="https"]

D. a[href~="https"]

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand the starts-with selector syntax

   The starts-with selector uses the caret symbol (^) inside square brackets to match attribute values that begin with a specific string.

2. Step 2: Match the selector to the question

   The selector a[href^="https"] matches all anchor tags with href attributes starting with "https".

3. Final Answer:

   a[href^="https"] -> Option C

4. Quick Check:

   Starts-with selector = ^ = a[href^="https"] [OK]

Hint: Starts-with selector uses ^ inside attribute brackets [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Confusing starts-with (^) with ends-with ($)
• Using *= which means contains, not starts-with
• Using ~ which matches whole words in space-separated values

2. Which of the following is the correct CSS syntax to select elements with a class attribute ending with "-btn"?

easy

A. [class$="-btn"]

B. .class^="-btn"

C. .class$="-btn"

D. [class^="-btn"]

Solution

1. Step 1: Identify the ends-with selector syntax

   The ends-with selector uses the dollar sign ($) inside square brackets to match attribute values that end with a specific string.

2. Step 2: Apply correct syntax for class attribute

   To select elements whose class attribute ends with "-btn", use [class$="-btn"]. The dot (.) is for class names, not attribute selectors.

3. Final Answer:

   [class$="-btn"] -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Ends-with selector = $ inside [] = [class$="-btn"] [OK]

Hint: Ends-with selector uses $ inside attribute brackets [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using dot (.) with attribute selectors incorrectly
• Confusing starts-with (^) with ends-with ($)
• Missing square brackets for attribute selectors

3. Given this HTML:

<a href="https://example.com">Link1</a>
<a href="http://example.com">Link2</a>
<a href="https://secure.com">Link3</a>

Which links will be styled by the CSS selector a[href^="https"] { color: red; }?

medium

A. All three links

B. Only Link1

C. Link2 and Link3

D. Link1 and Link3

Solution

1. Step 1: Identify which href values start with "https"

   Link1 has href="https://example.com" and Link3 has href="https://secure.com". Both start with "https". Link2 starts with "http" (no s).

2. Step 2: Apply the starts-with selector effect

   The selector a[href^="https"] styles only elements whose href attribute starts with "https". So Link1 and Link3 get styled.

3. Final Answer:

   Link1 and Link3 -> Option D

4. Quick Check:

   Starts-with "https" matches Link1 & Link3 [OK]

Hint: Starts-with selector matches only beginning of attribute value [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Including links starting with "http" without s
• Confusing contains (*) with starts-with (^)
• Assuming all links get styled

4. You wrote this CSS but it doesn't style any elements:

input[name^="user"] { background-color: yellow; }

HTML:

<input name="login">
<input name="signup">
<input name="emailuser">

What is the likely problem?

medium

A. The selector should use $ instead of ^

B. The attribute values do not start with "user"

C. The input elements need IDs for this selector

D. The selector syntax is invalid

Solution

1. Step 1: Check attribute values against selector

   The selector targets inputs with name attributes starting with "user". The inputs have names "login", "signup", and "emailuser". None of these start with "user".

2. Step 2: Identify why no elements styled

   Since none of the name attributes start with "user", no elements match the selector, so nothing gets styled.

3. Final Answer:

   The attribute values do not start with "user" -> Option B

4. Quick Check:

   Starts-with selector matches only beginning of attribute value [OK]

Hint: Check if attribute values actually start with the given string [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Assuming ends-with ($) is needed instead of starts-with (^)
• Thinking IDs are required for attribute selectors
• Believing selector syntax is wrong when it is correct

5. You want to style all img elements whose src attribute starts with "https://cdn." and ends with ".png". Which CSS selector correctly targets these images?

hard

A. img[src^="https://cdn."][src$=".png"]

B. img[src*="https://cdn."][src*=".png"]

C. img[src$="https://cdn."][src^=".png"]

D. img[src^=".png"][src$="https://cdn."]

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand combined attribute selectors

   You can combine multiple attribute selectors to match elements that satisfy all conditions. Here, one selector checks if src starts with "https://cdn." and another checks if src ends with ".png".

2. Step 2: Match correct starts-with and ends-with syntax

   Starts-with uses ^ and ends-with uses $. So the correct selector is img[src^="https://cdn."][src$=".png"].

3. Final Answer:

   img[src^="https://cdn."][src$=".png"] -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Combine ^ and $ selectors correctly [OK]

Hint: Combine ^ and $ selectors to match start and end [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using * (contains) instead of ^ or $
• Swapping ^ and $ symbols
• Incorrect order or syntax of attribute selectors