How to target a specific column or row in CSS Grid Layout?

Question

Is it possible to select a specific grid column or row with CSS?

For example, say I have a 3 row by 2 column CSS Grid Layout: grid-template-rows: 1fr 1fr 1fr; grid-template-columns: 1fr 1fr;. How would I select all elements from the 2nd column? For example: grid:nth-child(column:2) (just my idea, not valid code).

I have tried nth-child selectors on the div elements, but this does not allow me to specify row or column when the items are automatically placed by the Grid Layout engine.

Answer 1

To style an arbitrary row, you could use a wrapper element with its display set to contents. See the code snippet below:

.grid-container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: repeat(5, 1fr);
  grid-gap: 2px;
}

.grid-item {
  border: 1px solid black;
  padding: 5px;
}

.grid-row-wrapper {
  display: contents;
}

.grid-row-wrapper > .grid-item {
  background: skyblue;
}

<div class="grid-container">
  <div class="grid-item">1</div>
  <div class="grid-item">2</div>
  <div class="grid-item">3</div>
  <div class="grid-item">4</div>
  <div class="grid-item">5</div>
  <div class="grid-row-wrapper">
    <div class="grid-item">6</div>
    <div class="grid-item">7</div>
    <div class="grid-item">8</div>
    <div class="grid-item">9</div>
    <div class="grid-item">10</div>
  </div>
  <div class="grid-item">11</div>
  <div class="grid-item">12</div>
  <div class="grid-item">13</div>
  <div class="grid-item">14</div>
  <div class="grid-item">15</div>
  <div class="grid-item">16</div>
  <div class="grid-item">17</div>
  <div class="grid-item">18</div>
  <div class="grid-item">19</div>
  <div class="grid-item">20</div>
</div>

EDIT: As with all implementations, you should check to ensure it works in your target environment(s). You can check the compatibility table on MDN or caniuse.com for support for display: contents:

• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/display#Browser_compatibility
• https://caniuse.com/#search=display%3A%20contents