:nth-last-child() Selector


nth-last-child selector

Description: Selects all elements that are the nth-child of their parent, counting from the last element to the first.

  • version added: 1.9jQuery( ":nth-last-child(index/even/odd/equation)" )

    index: The index of each child to match, starting with the last one (1), the string even or odd, or an equation ( eg. :nth-last-child(even), :nth-last-child(4n) )

Because jQuery's implementation of :nth- selectors is strictly derived from the CSS specification, the value of n is "1-indexed", meaning that the counting starts at 1. For other selector expressions such as :eq() or :even jQuery follows JavaScript's "0-indexed" counting. Given a single <ul> containing three <li>s, $( "li:nth-last-child(1)" ) selects the third, last, <li>.

Further discussion of this usage can be found in the W3C CSS specification.

Examples:

Find the second to last li in each matched ul and note it.

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<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<title>nth-last-child demo</title>
<style>
div {
float: left;
}
span {
color: blue;
}
</style>
<script src="jquery-1.10.2.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
<div>
<ul>
<li>John</li>
<li>Karl</li>
<li>Adam</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Dan</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Dave</li>
<li>Rick</li>
<li>Timmy</li>
<li>Gibson</li>
</ul>
</div>
<script>
$( "ul li:nth-last-child(2)" ).append( "<span> - 2nd to last!</span>" );
</script>
</body>
</html>

Demo:

This is a playground to see how the selector works with different strings.

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<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<title>nth-last-child demo</title>
<style>
button {
display: block;
font-size: 12px;
width: 100px;
}
div {
float: left;
margin: 10px;
font-size: 10px;
border: 1px solid black;
}
span {
color: blue;
font-size:18px;
}
#inner {
color: red;
}
td {
width: 50px;
text-align: center;
}
</style>
<script src="jquery-1.10.2.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
<div>
<button>:nth-last-child(even)</button>
<button>:nth-last-child(odd)</button>
<button>:nth-last-child(3n)</button>
<button>:nth-last-child(2)</button>
</div>
<div>
<button>:nth-last-child(3n+1)</button>
<button>:nth-last-child(3n+2)</button>
</div>
<div>
<table>
<tr><td>John</td></tr>
<tr><td>Karl</td></tr>
<tr><td>Brandon</td></tr>
<tr><td>Benjamin</td></tr>
</table>
</div>
<div>
<table>
<tr><td>Sam</td></tr>
</table>
</div>
<div>
<table>
<tr><td>Glen</td></tr>
<tr><td>Tane</td></tr>
<tr><td>Ralph</td></tr>
<tr><td>David</td></tr>
<tr><td>Mike</td></tr>
<tr><td>Dan</td></tr>
</table>
</div>
<span>tr<span id="inner"></span></span>
<script>
$( "button" ).click(function() {
var str = $( this ).text();
$( "tr" ).css( "background", "white" );
$( "tr" + str ).css( "background", "#ff0000" );
$( "#inner" ).text(str);
});
</script>
</body>
</html>

Demo: