JarCastingCSS Selector Generator
JavaScript object that creates a unique CSS selector for a given DOM element.
It also generates shorter selectors and is faster and/or more robust than many other libraries - see this comparison and select the best alternative for your use case.
Install
Add the library to your project via NPM or Yarn.
npm install css-selector-generator
yarn add css-selector-generator
Then include it in your source code:
import getCssSelector from 'css-selector-generator';
How to use
Simplest way to use it is to provide an element reference, without any options.
<body>
<!-- targetElement -->
<div class="myElement"></div>
</body>
getCssSelector(targetElement);
// ".myElement"
Typical example is to create a selector for any element that the user clicks on:
// track every click
document.body.addEventListener('click', function (event) {
// get reference to the element user clicked on
const element = event.target;
// get unique CSS selector for that element
const selector = getCssSelector(element);
// do whatever you need to do with that selector
console.log('selector', selector);
});
Selector types
You can choose which types of selectors do you want to use:
<body>
<!-- targetElement -->
<div class="myElement"></div>
</body>
getCssSelector(targetElement, {selectors: ['class']});
// ".myElement"
getCssSelector(targetElement, {selectors: ['tag']});
// "div"
Order of selector types defines their priority:
getCssSelector(targetElement, {selectors: ['class', 'tag']});
// ".myElement"
getCssSelector(targetElement, {selectors: ['tag', 'class']});
// "div"
Root element
You can define root element, from which the selector will be created. If root element is not defined, document root will be used:
<body>
<div class="myRootElement">
<!-- targetElement -->
<div class="myElement"></div>
</div>
</body>
getCssSelector(targetElement)
// ".myRootElement > .myElement"
getCssSelector(targetElement, {root: document.querySelector('.myRootElement')});
// ".myElement"
Blacklist
If you want to ignore some selectors, you can put them on the blacklist. Blacklist is an array that can contain either regular expressions, or strings. In strings, you can use an asterisk (*) as a wildcard that will match any number of any characters.
<body>
<!-- targetElement -->
<div class="firstClass secondClass"></div>
</body>
getCssSelector(targetElement, {blacklist: ['.firstClass']});
// ".secondClass"
getCssSelector(targetElement, {blacklist: ['.first*']});
// ".secondClass"
getCssSelector(targetElement, {blacklist: [/first/]});
// ".secondClass"
Whitelist
Same as blacklist option, but instead of ignoring matching selectors, they will be prioritised.
<body>
<!-- targetElement -->
<div class="firstClass secondClass"></div>
</body>
getCssSelector(targetElement, {whitelist: ['.secondClass']});
// ".secondClass"
getCssSelector(targetElement, {whitelist: ['.second*']});
// ".secondClass"
getCssSelector(targetElement, {whitelist: [/second/]});
// ".secondClass"
Combine within selector
If set to true, the generator will try to look for combinations of selectors within a single type (usually class names) to get better overall selector.
<body>
<!-- targetElement -->
<div class="aaa bbb"></div>
<div class="aaa ccc"></div>
<div class="bbb ccc"></div>
</body>
getCssSelector(targetElement, {combineWithinSelector: false});
// "body > :nth-child(1)" - in this case no single class name is unique
getCssSelector(targetElement, {combineWithinSelector: true});
// ".aaa.bbb"
This option is set to true by default. It can be set to false for performance reasons.
Combine between selectors
If set to true, the generator will try to look for combinations of selectors between various types (e.g. tag name + class name) to get better overall selector.
<body>
<!-- targetElement -->
<div class="aaa"></div>
<div class="bbb"></div>
<p class="aaa"></div>
</body>
getCssSelector(targetElement, {combineBetweenSelectors: false});
// "body > :nth-child(1)" - in this case no single class name or tag name is unique
getCssSelector(targetElement, {combineBetweenSelectors: true});
// "div.aaa"
This option is set to true by default. It can be set to false for performance reasons.
Include tag
This option will add tag selector type to every selector:
<body>
<!-- targetElement -->
<div class="myElement"></div>
</body>
getCssSelector(targetElement, {includeTag: true});
// "div.myElement"
Documentation
Table of Contents
getCssSelector
Generates unique CSS selector for an element.
Parameters
elementElementcustom_optionscss_selector_generator_options? (optional, default{})
Returns string
css_selector_generator_options
Type: Object
Properties
selectorsArray<css_selector_type>? List of selector types to use. They will be prioritised by their order.whitelistArray<(RegExp | string)>? List of selectors that should be prioritised.blacklistArray<(RegExp | string)>? List of selectors that should be ignored.rootElement? Root element inside which the selector will be generated. If not set, the document root will be used.combineWithinSelectorboolean? If set totrue, the generator will test combinations of selectors of single type (e.g. multiple class selectors).combineBetweenSelectorsboolean? If set totrue, the generator will try to test combinations of selectors of different types (e.g. tag + class name).includeTagboolean? If set totrue, all generated selectors will include the TAG part. Even if tag selector type is not included inselectorsoption.
css_selector_type
Type: ("id" | "class" | "tag" | "attribute" | "nthchild" | "nthoftype")
Migrate from v1 to v2
Instead of creating a class and then calling the getSelector() method, now you just call a function getCssSelector() and provide it with element reference and options:
// v1
const mySelectorGenerator = new CssSelectorGenerator({/* custom options */});
mySelectorGenerator.getSelector(elementReference);
// v2
getCssSelector(elementReference, {/* custom options */});
- Options
id_blacklist,class_blacklistandattribute_blacklistare replaced with singleblacklistoption, which is now applied to all selector types. - Option
attribute_whitelistis replaced withwhitelistoption, which is now applied to all selector types. - Option
prefix_tagis renamed toincludeTag. - Option
quote_attribute_when_neededis removed. The attribute selectors are quoted automatically.
Bug reports, feature requests and contact
If you found any bugs, if you have feature requests or any questions, please, either file an issue on GitHub or send me an e-mail at [email protected]
License
CSS Selector Generator is published under the MIT license.