css selector syntax: "element1 element2" VS "element1 > element2"

Question

what is the difference between selector strategy 1 and 2? It seems the same to me

1. div p (Selects all <p> elements inside <div> elements)
2. div > p (Selects all <p> elements where the parent is a <div> element)

Answer 1

Using > selects only the elements which is a direct child, in below case only span which is a direct child of a div

div span {
  color: red
}
div > span {
  color: lime
}

<div>
  <span>Span</span>
  <span>Span</span>
  <span>Span</span>
  <span>
    Span
    <span>Span</span>
    <span>Span</span>
  </span>
</div>

Answer 2

Selector #1 (div p) selects all paragraphs that are descendants of a div. The p elements could be deeply nested in the div structure, and they will be selected.

Selector #2 (div > p) selects only paragraphs that are the children (i.e., immediate descendants) of a div.

The first is known as a descendant combinator selector.

The second is a child combinator selector.

https://www.w3.org/TR/css3-selectors/#selectors