symbols

Summary

The symbols descriptor is used to specify the symbols that the specified counter system will use to construct counter representations. A symbol can be a string, image, or identifier. The symbols descriptor must be specified when the value of the system descriptor is cyclic, numeric, alphabetic, symbolic, or fixed. When the additive system is used, the additive-symbols descriptor is used to specify the symbols.

The possible values of the symbols descriptor include:

• Strings - sequence of characters enclosed in single or double quotes. Backslash (\) can be used to escape special characters. For example, Unicode characters can be specified in the format "\24B6".
• Images - In the format url(path-to-image.png)
• Identifiers

Syntax

symbols: A B C D E;
symbols: "\24B6" "\24B7" "\24B8" D E;
symbols: "0" "1" "2" "4" "5" "6" "7" "8" "9";
symbols: url('first.svg') url('second.svg') url('third.svg');
symbols: indic-numbers;

Values

<symbol>

Represents a <symbol> used within the counter system.

Formal syntax

<symbol>+
where 
<symbol> = <string> | <image> | <ident>
where 
<image> = <url> | <image()> | <image-set()> | <element()> | <cross-fade()> | <gradient>
where 
<image()> = image( [ [ <image> | <string> ]? , <color>? ]! )
<image-set()> = image-set( <image-set-option># )
<element()> = element( <id-selector> )
<cross-fade()> = cross-fade( <cf-mixing-image> , <cf-final-image>? )
<gradient> = <linear-gradient()> | <repeating-linear-gradient()> | <radial-gradient()> | <repeating-radial-gradient()>
where 
<color> = <rgb()> | <rgba()> | <hsl()> | <hsla()> | <hex-color> | <named-color> | currentcolor | <deprecated-system-color>
<image-set-option> = [ <image> | <string> ] <resolution>
<cf-mixing-image> = <percentage>? && <image>
<cf-final-image> = <image> | <color>
<linear-gradient()> = linear-gradient( [ <angle> | to <side-or-corner> ]? , <color-stop-list> )
<repeating-linear-gradient()> = repeating-linear-gradient( [ <angle> | to <side-or-corner> ]? , <color-stop-list> )
<radial-gradient()> = radial-gradient( [ <ending-shape> || <size> ]? [ at <position> ]? , <color-stop-list> )
<repeating-radial-gradient()> = repeating-radial-gradient( [ <ending-shape> || <size> ]? [ at <position> ]? , <color-stop-list> )
where 
<rgb()> = rgb( <rgb-component>#{3} )
<rgba()> = rgba( <rgb-component>#{3} , <alpha-value> )
<hsl()> = hsl( <hue>, <percentage>, <percentage> )
<hsla()> = hsla( <hue>, <percentage>, <percentage>, <alpha-value> )
<named-color> = <ident>
<deprecated-system-color> = ActiveBorder | ActiveCaption | AppWorkspace | Background | ButtonFace | ButtonHighlight | ButtonShadow | ButtonText | CaptionText | GrayText | Highlight | HighlightText | InactiveBorder | InactiveCaption | InactiveCaptionText | InfoBackground | InfoText | Menu | MenuText | Scrollbar | ThreeDDarkShadow | ThreeDFace | ThreeDHighlight | ThreeDLightShadow | ThreeDShadow | Window | WindowFrame | WindowText
<side-or-corner> = [ left | right ] || [ top | bottom ]
<color-stop-list> = <color-stop>{2,}
<ending-shape> = circle | ellipse
<size> = closest-side | farthest-side | closest-corner | farthest-corner | <length> | <length-percentage>{2}
<position> = [[ left | center | right | top | bottom | <length-percentage> ] | [ left | center | right | <length-percentage> ] [ top | center | bottom | <length-percentage> ] | [ center | [ left | right ] <length-percentage>? ] && [ center | [ top | bottom ] <length-percentage>? ]]
where 
<rgb-component> = <integer> | <percentage>
<alpha-value> = <number>
<hue> = <number>
<color-stop> = <color> <length-percentage>?
<length-percentage> = <length> | <percentage>

Example

HTML

<ul class="list">
  <li>One</li>
  <li>Two</li>
  <li>Three</li>
  <li>Four</li>
  <li>Five</li>
</ul>

CSS

@counter-style symbols-example {
  system: fixed;
  symbols: A "1" "\24B7" D E;
}

.list {
  list-style: symbols-example;    
}

Result

Specifications

Browser compatibility

[1] Gecko does not support images for the symbols descriptor yet. See bug 1024179.

See also

• list-style, list-style-image, list-style-position
• symbols(), the functional notation creating anonymous counter styles.