CSS

:hover

Selector

Example

Select and style a link when you mouse over it:

a:hover
{
  background-color: yellow;
}

Try it Yourself »

More “Try it Yourself” examples below.

Definition and Usage

The :hover selector is used to select elements when you mouse over them.

Tip: The :hover selector can be used on all elements, not only
on links.

Tip: Use the :link selector to style links to
unvisited pages, the :visited selector to style
links to visited pages, and the
:active selector to style the active link.

Note: :hover MUST come after :link and :visited (if they are present) in the CSS definition, in order to be effective!

Version:
CSS1

Browser Support

The numbers in the table specifies the first browser version that fully supports the selector.

Selector

:hover
4.0
7.0
2.0
3.1
9.6

Note: In IE there must be declared a <!DOCTYPE>
for the :hover selector to work on other elements than the <a> element.

CSS Syntax

  css declarations;
}
Demo

:hover {css declarations;

More Examples

Example

Select and style a <p>, <h1> and <a> element when you mouse over it:

p:hover, h1:hover, a:hover {
  background-color: yellow;
}

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Example

Select and style unvisited, visited, hover, and active links:

/* unvisited link */
a:link {
  color: green;
}

/* visited link */
a:visited {
  color: green;
}

/* mouse over link */
a:hover {
  color: red;
}

/* selected link */
a:active {
  color: yellow;
}

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Example

Style links with different styles:

a.ex1:hover, a.ex1:active {
  color: red;
}

a.ex2:hover, a.ex2:active {
  font-size: 150%;
}

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Example

Hover over a <span> element to show a <div> element (like a tooltip):

div {
  display: none;
}

span:hover + div {
  display: block;
}

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Example

Show and hide a “dropdown” menu on mouse hover:

ul {
  display: inline;
  margin: 0;
  padding: 0;
}
ul li {display: inline-block;}
ul li:hover {background: #555;}
ul li:hover ul {display: block;}
ul li ul {
  position: absolute;
  width: 200px;
  display: none;
}
ul li ul li {
  background: #555;
  display: block;
}
ul li ul li a {display:block !important;}
ul li ul li:hover {background: #666;}

Try it Yourself »

Related Pages

CSS tutorial: CSS Links

CSS tutorial: CSS Pseudo classes