CSS :visited Pseudo Class

The :visited selector selects and styles visited links in the page.

The :visited pseudo-class applies when the link has been visited by the user.

If we try to add style to the visited links by giving them a style property (e.g., background-image) it will not work in modern browsers. But the style properties will work properly if we use any other pseudo-class.

The styles that are modified using this selector are very limited. Browsers allow the following styles:

There is an option for web browsers to ignore the rule styles for the :link and :visited pseudo-classes because the :visited pseudo-class can be abused and it will be possible to get information from the visitor’s browser history.

Version

Selectors Level 4

Selectors Level 3

Syntax

:visited {
  css declarations;
}

Example of the :visited selector:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
    <style>
      a {
        display: block;
        padding: 5px;
      }
      a:visited {
        color: #8ebf42;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h2>:visited selector example</h2>
    <a href="https://www.w3docs.com">W3docs</a>
    <a href="https://stackdev.io/">Stackdev</a>
  </body>
</html>

Try it Yourself »

Example of the :visited selector with the unvisited, visited, hover, and active links:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
    <style>
      p {
        font-size: 20px;
      }
      /* unvisited link */
      a:link {
        color: #cccccc;
      }
      /* visited link */
      a:visited {
        color: #1c87c9;
      }
      /* mouse over link */
      a:hover {
        color: #8ebf42;
      }
      /* selected link */
      a:active {
        color: #666666;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h2>:visited selector example</h2>
    <p>Visit our
      <a href="https://www.w3docs.com/">website</a>.
    </p>
  </body>
</html>