css pseudo element

`::slotted()` CSS pseudo-element

The ::slotted() CSS pseudo-element represents any element that has been placed into a slot inside an HTML template (see Using templates and slots for more information).

This only works when used inside CSS placed within a shadow DOM. Note that this selector won’t select a text node placed into a slot; it only targets actual elements.

Interactive exampleOpen the canonical MDN source to run this embedded demo.

/* This CSS is being applied inside the shadow DOM. */

::slotted(.content) {
  background-color: aqua;
}

h2 ::slotted(span) {
  background: silver;
}

<template id="card-template">
  <div>
    <h2><slot name="caption">title goes here</slot></h2>
    <slot name="content">content goes here</slot>
  </div>
</template>

<my-card>
  <span slot="caption">Error</span>
  <p class="content" slot="content">Build failed!</p>
</my-card>

customElements.define(
  "my-card",
  class extends HTMLElement {
    constructor() {
      super();

      const template = document.getElementById("card-template");
      const shadow = this.attachShadow({ mode: "open" });
      shadow.appendChild(document.importNode(template.content, true));

      const elementStyle = document.createElement("style");
      elementStyle.textContent = `
        div {
          width: 200px;
          border: 2px dotted red;
          border-radius: 4px;
        }`;
      shadow.appendChild(elementStyle);

      const cssTab = document.querySelector("#css-output");
      const editorStyle = document.createElement("style");
      editorStyle.textContent = cssTab.textContent;
      shadow.appendChild(editorStyle);
      cssTab.addEventListener("change", () => {
        editorStyle.textContent = cssTab.textContent;
      });
    }
  },
);

/* Selects any element placed inside a slot */
::slotted(*) {
  font-weight: bold;
}

/* Selects any <span> placed inside a slot */
::slotted(span) {
  font-weight: bold;
}

Syntax

::slotted(<compound-selector>) {
  /* ... */
}

Examples

Highlighting slotted elements

In this example, we use a template with three slots:

<template id="person-template">
  <div>
    <h2>Personal ID Card</h2>
    <slot name="person-name">NAME MISSING</slot>
    <ul>
      <li><slot name="person-age">AGE MISSING</slot></li>
      <li><slot name="person-occupation">OCCUPATION MISSING</slot></li>
    </ul>
  </div>
</template>

We define the <person-details> custom element. In this case, we add styles with JavaScript, though we could have added them in a <style> block within the <template> with the same effect:

customElements.define(
  "person-details",
  class extends HTMLElement {
    constructor() {
      super();
      const template = document.getElementById("person-template");

      const shadowRoot = this.attachShadow({ mode: "open" });

      const style = document.createElement("style");
      style.textContent =
        "div { padding: 10px; border: 1px solid gray; width: 200px; margin: 10px; }" +
        "h2 { margin: 0 0 10px; }" +
        "ul { margin: 0; }" +
        "p { margin: 10px 0; }" +
        "::slotted(*) { color: gray; font-family: sans-serif; } " +
        "::slotted(span) {text-decoration: underline;} ";

      shadowRoot.appendChild(style);
      shadowRoot.appendChild(document.importNode(template.content, true));
    }
  },
);

When filling the style element with content, you’ll see that we select all slotted elements (::slotted(*)) and give them a different font and color. This differentiates them from the slots that haven’t been filled. We styled all the slotted <span>s (::slotted(span)) to differentiate the <span>s from the <p>s.

Our markup includes three custom elements, including a custom element with an invalid slot name in a source order that differs from the <template>:

<person-details>
  <p slot="person-name">Wonder Woman</p>
  <span slot="person-age">Immortal</span>
  <span slot="person-occupation">Superhero</span>
</person-details>

<person-details>
  <p slot="person-name">Malala Yousafzai</p>
  <span slot="person-age">17</span>
  <span slot="person-occupation">Activist</span>
</person-details>

<person-details>
  <span slot="person-age">44</span>
  <span slot="not-a-slot-name">Time traveler</span>
  <p slot="person-name">Dr. Who</p>
</person-details>

Result

Interactive exampleOpen the canonical MDN source to run this embedded demo.

Specifications

SpecificationsStandards references are available on the canonical MDN page.

Browser compatibility

Browser compatibilityCompatibility data is available on the canonical MDN page.