Question

After re-reading the CSS2.1 and CSS3 selector specs I suspect this is impossible, but you never know.

If I can select a p element, that is a decendent of other p element using the CSS decendant selector thus:

p p {};

Is there any way to negate the decendant selector, and still select on type, so I can select p elements, except those that are decendents of other p elements…

p & ( p ! p ) {...};

i.e. I want to select elements of type p, but NOT if they decend from other elements of type p.

BTW: I am using this in querySelector() and querySelectorAll(), where each one is selected by attributes not tag type, but I wanted to show the simplest example possible…

I tried this without success (syntax error!)

p:not(p p) {......}

Answer 1

You suspect correctly, it is impossible. :not(s) specifies that s must be a simple selector.

The nearest thing you can do is to apply a style to all p and then override it for p p.