:nth-last-child() Selector
Selects all elements that are the nth-child of their parent, counting from the last element to the first.
.nth-last-child(index)
index
| Number/String | The index of each child to match, starting with the last one (1), the string even or odd, or an equation ( eg. :nth-last-child(even), :nth-last-child(4n) ) |
Because jQuery's implementation of :nth- selectors is strictly derived from the CSS specification, the value of n is "1-indexed", meaning that the counting starts at 1. For other selector expressions such as .first() or .eq() jQuery follows JavaScript's "0-indexed" counting. Given a single <ul> containing three <li>s, $( "li:nth-last-child(1)" ) selects the third, last, <li>.
Further discussion of this usage can be found in the W3C CSS specification.
Find the second to last li in each matched ul and note it.
JS
<div>
<ul>
<li>John</li>
<li>Karl</li>
<li>Adam</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Dan</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Dave</li>
<li>Rick</li>
<li>Timmy</li>
<li>Gibson</li>
</ul>
</div>
CSS
div {
float: left;
}
span {
color: blue;
}
HTML
$("ul li:nth-last-child(2)").append("<span> - 2nd to last!</span>");
DEMO
This is a playground to see how the selector works with different strings.
JS
<div>
<button>:nth-last-child(even)</button>
<button>:nth-last-child(odd)</button>
<button>:nth-last-child(3n)</button>
<button>:nth-last-child(2)</button>
</div>
<div>
<button>:nth-last-child(3n+1)</button>
<button>:nth-last-child(3n+2)</button>
</div>
<div>
<table>
<tr>
<td>John</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Karl</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Brandon</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Benjamin</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<div>
<table>
<tr>
<td>Sam</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<div>
<table>
<tr>
<td>Glen</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Tane</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Ralph</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>David</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Mike</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Dan</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<span>tr<span id="inner"></span></span>
CSS
button {
display: block;
font-size: 12px;
width: 100px;
}
div {
float: left;
margin: 10px;
font-size: 10px;
border: 1px solid black;
}
span {
color: blue;
font-size: 18px;
}
#inner {
color: red;
}
td {
width: 50px;
text-align: center;
}
HTML
$("button").click(function () {
var str = $(this).text();
$("tr").css("background", "white");
$("tr" + str).css("background", "#ff0000");
$("#inner").text(str);
});
DEMO