The :target pseudo-class represents the unique element, if any, with an id matching the fragment identifier of the URI of the document..

URIs with fragment identifiers link to a certain element within the document, known as the target element. For instance, here is a URI pointing to an anchor named section2:
http://example.com/folder/document.html#section2
The anchor can be any element with an id attribute, e.g. <h1 id="section2"> in our example. The target element h1 can be represented by the :target pseudo-class.

Note: The id attribute was new in HTML 4 (December 1997).  In old-style HTML <a> is a target element.  The :target pseudo-class applies to those targets as well.

Examples

:target { outline: solid red }  /* draw a red, solid line around the target element */

/* example code for userContent.css or any web pages;
   a red/yellow arrow indicates the target element */  

:target {
 -webkit-box-shadow: 0.2em 0.2em 0.3em #888;
    -moz-box-shadow: 0.2em 0.2em 0.3em #888;
         box-shadow: 0.2em 0.2em 0.3em #888;
}

:target:before {
  font:           70% Arial,"Nimbus Sans L",sans-serif !important;
  content:        "\25ba";  /* ► */
  color:          red;
  background:     gold;
  border:         solid thin;
  padding-left:   1px;
  display:        inline-block;
  margin-right:   0.13em;
  vertical-align: 20%;
}

Working with display: none elements…

The :target pseudo-class also works fine with undisplayed elements:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>:target pseudoclass example</title>
<style>
#newcomment {
  display: none;
}

#newcomment:target {
  display: block;
}
</style>

</head>
<body>
 <p><a href="#newcomment">Add a comment</a></p>
 <div id="newcomment">
  <form>
  <p>Write your comment:<br />
  <textarea></textarea></p>
  </form>
 </div>
</body>
</html>

Creating a pure CSS "lightbox"

The :target pseudo-class is useful to switch on/off some invisible elements. In this way you can create a pure-CSS lightbox (live demo).

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8" />
<title>MDN Example &ndash; CSS Lightbox</title>
<style type="text/css">
div.lightbox {
  display: none;
  position: fixed;
  left: 0;
  top: 0;
  width: 100%;
  height: 100%;
}

div.lightbox:target {
  display: table;
}

div.lightbox figure {
  display: table-cell;
  margin: 0;
  padding: 0;
  width: 100%;
  height: 100%;
  vertical-align: middle;
}

div.lightbox figure figcaption {
  display: block;
  margin: auto;
  padding: 8px;
  background-color: #ddbbff;
  height: 250px;
  position: relative;
  overflow: auto;
  border: 1px #000000 solid;
  border-radius: 10px;
  text-align: justify;
  font-size: 14px;
}

div.lightbox figure .closemsg {
  display: block;
  margin: auto;
  height: 0;
  overflow: visible;
  text-align: right;
  z-index: 2;
  cursor: default;
}

div.lightbox figure .closemsg, div.lightbox figure figcaption {
  width: 300px;
}

.closemsg::after {
  content: "\00D7";
  display: inline-block;
  position: relative;
  right: -20px;
  top: -10px;
  z-index: 3;
  color: #ffffff;
  border: 1px #ffffff solid;
  border-radius: 10px;
  width: 20px;
  height: 20px;
  line-height: 18px;
  text-align: center;
  margin: 0;
  background-color: #000000;
  font-weight: bold;
  cursor: pointer;
}

.closemsg::before {
  content: "";
  display: block;
  position: fixed;
  left: 0;
  top: 0;
  width: 100%;
  height: 100%;
  background-color: #000000;
  opacity: 0.85;
}
</style>
</head>

<body>

<h1>Pure CSS Lightbox</h1>

<p>Some sample text&hellip;</p>

<p>[ <a href="#example1">Open example #1</a> | <a href="#example2">Open example #2</a> ]</p>

<p>Another sample text&hellip;</p>

<div class="lightbox" id="example1">
  <figure>
    <a href="#" class="closemsg"></a>
    <figcaption>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec felis enim, placerat id eleifend eu, semper vel sem. Sed interdum commodo enim venenatis pulvinar. Proin mattis lorem vitae diam scelerisque hendrerit. Fusce cursus imperdiet mauris, vitae hendrerit velit dignissim a. Suspendisse potenti. Aenean feugiat facilisis diam, in posuere sapien mattis vel. Proin molestie rutrum diam, pharetra feugiat ligula sollicitudin sed. Etiam cursus diam quis tellus aliquam gravida. Aliquam erat volutpat.<br />
    Etiam varius adipiscing mi eget imperdiet. Nulla quis vestibulum leo. Integer molestie massa ut massa commodo in blandit purus aliquam. Mauris sit amet posuere massa. Ut a eleifend augue. Proin sodales mauris nec tellus pharetra dictum.</figcaption>
  </figure>
</div>

<div class="lightbox" id="example2">
  <figure>
    <a href="#" class="closemsg"></a>
    <figcaption>Cras risus odio, pharetra nec ultricies et, mollis ac augue. Nunc et diam quis sapien dignissim auctor. Quisque quis neque arcu, nec gravida magna. Etiam ullamcorper augue quis orci posuere et tincidunt augue semper. Maecenas varius augue eu orci auctor bibendum tristique ligula egestas. Morbi pharetra tortor iaculis erat porta id aliquam leo cursus. Ut nec elit vel mauris dapibus lacinia eget sed odio.</figcaption>
  </figure>
</div>

</body>
</html>

Specifications

Specification Status Comment
WHATWG HTML Living Standard
The definition of ':target' in that specification.		 Living Standard Defines HTML-specific semantics.
Selectors Level 4
The definition of ':target' in that specification.		 Working Draft No changes
Selectors Level 3
The definition of ':target' in that specification.		 Recommendation Initial definition

Browser compatibility

Feature Chrome Firefox (Gecko) Internet Explorer Opera Safari
Basic support 1.0 1.0 (1.7 or earlier) 9 9.5 1.3
Feature Android Firefox Mobile (Gecko) IE Mobile Opera Mobile Safari Mobile
Basic support 2.1 1.0 (1.7 or earlier) 9.0 9.5 2.0

See also

Document Tags and Contributors

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 Contributors to this page: cvrebert, teoli, Sebastianz, jwhitlock, MusikAnimal, dbruant, TylerH, KyliRouge, kscarfone, JSONBellamy, ethertank, Sheppy, fusionchess, McGurk, jswisher, leaverou, fl0rian, Jürgen Jeka, j.j.
 Last updated by: cvrebert,