# How to select the first child element with CSS

> Learn how to select the first child element in CSS without adding a class, using the first-of-type selector to target the first ul inside a container.

Author: [Flavio Copes](https://flaviocopes.com/about/) | Published: 2022-07-23 | Topics: [CSS](https://flaviocopes.com/tags/css/) | Canonical: https://flaviocopes.com/css-select-first-child/

Problem: in my markdown file I had the need to style the first `ul`, the table of contents, and I couldn't add a class or an id to target it with CSS.

So I looked into how to target it with a selector.

The HTML structure was this:

```html
<div id="content">
  <ul>
    ...the TOC
  </ul>

  ...rest of the HTML
</div>
```

This worked to select the first child of `div#content` and leave other `ul` elements unaffected:

```css
div#content > ul:first-of-type {
  ...my styles
}
```