Selector references

[yantakus]

Stylus developers are reviewing a spec for selector references. This is the feature we really need in Less. Please, consider adding something similar into less. That would be great. Thank you.

[seven-phases-max]

This is a duplicate #1075. Unfortunately both / and &[...] operators would be conflicting with existing syntax, e.g. CSS /deep/ and Less &[boo] (a number inside [] has no meaning currently but who knows what they will invent in CSS further?).

The proposed selector function is another feature (there's no a dedicated ticked yet though it came into view here and there a few times, e.g. #1648 (comment)) and it sounds interesting (maybe a good unlocker for #1694 use-cases...).

[yantakus]

@seven-phases-max The syntax can be different, what we need is features. These are the most missing.

[seven-phases-max]

@web2style And it's been discussed for a year and a half by now in #1075. That's how these things work: no agreement on syntax + no volunteers to implement -> no feature. PRs are welcome (but first we need to decide on a non-conflicting syntax).

[seven-phases-max]

Closing as duplicate of #1075.

[matthew-dean]

That particular discussion in #1075 sort of went of the rails trying to find consensus. What got lost in the noise was the discussion of a simple root selector (/ or \ or ^).

.foo {
  width: 10px;
  .bar,
  /.baz {
    height: 10px;
  }
}
// renders as:

.foo {
  width: 10px;
}
.foo .bar,
.baz {
  height: 10px;
}

That's come up a few times, and unlike parent selectors, I think that would be fairly non-controversial as far as implementation. (Of course, who can anticipate what's non-controversial.) On the idea level, it seems straightforward. Probably just need agreement as to syntax. Should we open it as a separate issue?

[seven-phases-max]

Should we open it as a separate issue?

I guess we could since it can be implemented and be useful independently of #1075.