LESS - Multiple &



Description

By using the & operator, it is possible to refer a parent selector repeatedly without using its name. Within a selector & can be used more than once.

Example

The following example demonstrates the use of multiple & in the LESS file −

<html>
   <head>
      <title>Parent Selector</title>
      <link rel = "stylesheet" href = "style.css" type = "text/css" />
   </head>

   <body>
      <h2>Welcome to TutorialsPoint</h2>
      <p class = "select">It is possible to reference the 
      parent selector by using &(ampersand) operator.</p>
      <p class = "select_class1">It is possible to reference the 
      parent selector by using &(ampersand) operator</p>
   </body>
</html>

Next, create the style.less file.

style.less

.select {
   & + & {
      color: #A9F5F2;
   }

   & & {
      color: #D0FA58;
   }

   && {
      color: #81BEF7;
   }

   &, &_class1 {
      color: #A4A4A4;
   }
}

You can compile the style.less file to style.css by using the following command −

lessc style.less style.css

Execute the above command; it will create the style.css file automatically with the following code −

style.css

.select + .select {
   color: #A9F5F2;
}

.select .select {
   color: #D0FA58;
}

.select.select {
   color: #81BEF7;
}

.select,
.select_class1 {
   color: #A4A4A4;
}

Output

Follow these steps to see how the above code works −

  • Save the above html code in the parent_selector.htm file.

  • Open this HTML file in a browser, the following output will get displayed.

Less Parent Selector

The & will not just represent the nearest selector but represents all the parent selectors. For more information, click here.

less_parent_selectors.htm
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