CSS ::before (:before) Selector

a::before {
  content: "☞ "
}

Meaning

The ::before (:before) selector sets a style to be used immediately before the element.

Note: :beforechanged to ::before under CSS3 to make pseudo-elements obvious.

It is often used to add cosmetic content to an element with the content property. It is inline by default.

Version: CSS2

Standard Syntax

::before (:before) {
  css declarations;
}

Browser Support

The numbers in the table specify the first browser version that fully supports the property.

Status

More Example:

The following example add quotation marks using ::before pseudo-elements is to provide quotation marks. Here we use both ::before and ::after to insert quotation characters:

q::after {
  content: "»";
  color: red;
}

q::before {
  content: "«";
  color: blue;
}