CSS Overriding Variables

Override Global Variable With Local Variable

From the previous page we have learned that global variables can be accessed/used through the entire document, while local variables can be used only inside the selector where it is declared.

Look at the example from the previous page:

Example

:root {
--blue: #1e90ff;
--white: #ffffff;
}

body {
background-color: var(--blue);
}

h2 {
border-bottom: 2px solid var(--blue);
}

.container {
color: var(--blue);
background-color: var(--white);
padding: 15px;
}

button {
background-color: var(--white);
color: var(--blue);
border: 1px solid var(--blue);
padding: 5px;
}

Try it Yourself »

Sometimes we want the variables to change only in a specific section of the page.

Assume we want a different color of blue for button elements. Then, we can re-declare the --blue variable inside the button selector. When we use var(--blue) inside this selector, it will use the local --blue variable value declared here.

We see that the local --blue variable will override the global --blue variable for the button elements:

Example

:root {
--blue: #1e90ff;
--white: #ffffff;
}

body {
background-color: var(--blue);
}

h2 {
border-bottom: 2px solid var(--blue);
}

.container {
color: var(--blue);
background-color: var(--white);
padding: 15px;
}

button {
--blue: #0000ff; /* local variable will override global */
background-color: var(--white);
color: var(--blue);
border: 1px solid var(--blue);
padding: 5px;
}

Try it Yourself »

Add a New Local Variable

If a variable is to be used at only one single place, we could also have declared a new local variable, like this:

Example

:root {
--blue: #1e90ff;
--white: #ffffff;
}

body {
background-color: var(--blue);
}

h2 {
border-bottom: 2px solid var(--blue);
}

.container {
color: var(--blue);
background-color: var(--white);
padding: 15px;
}

button {
--button-blue: #0000ff; /* new local variable */
background-color: var(--white);
color: var(--button-blue);
border: 1px solid var(--button-blue);
padding: 5px;
}

Try it Yourself »