How to define global variables in css

Question

I want to define global variables in one css file and use the variables in other css files.

Is this possible?

Global.css:

:root {
    --main-color: #192100;
    --main-background: #89b66b;
}

html, body {
    min-height: 100%;
    width: 100%;
    font-family: Arial;
    color: var(--main-color);
}

SomeFile.css:

.some-rule {
    display: table;
    border-radius: 12px;
    border: 4px solid var(--main-color);
    padding-left: 10px;
    padding-right: 10px;
    color: var(--main-color);
}

Html: (Global.css if referenced before SomeFile.css)

<link href="Global.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
<link href="SomeFile.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />

no can do. you need a preprocessor like [sass](http://sass-lang.com/) or [less](http://lesscss.org/) to achieve such a thing — giorgio, Aug 18 '17 at 13:30
recently i came across http://nicolasgallagher.com/custom-css-preprocessing/ — Praveen, Aug 18 '17 at 13:30
Why not just have a class of root that you just add to elements you want to have it on? — Pete, Aug 18 '17 at 13:33

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 18 '17 at 13:37

1

You can't do that with CSS. Try A CSS Preprocessor like Less or Sass.

less.css sharing variables across files

SASS - use variables across multiple files

answered Aug 18 '17 at 13:37

Reza Ramezanpour

585
8
28

1

Ended up using @import for now. But I'll read more about Less and probably use that in the future – SteinTheRuler Aug 18 '17 at 13:54
@SteinTheRuler How did you use `@import` for this? Thanks. – Alejandro Cotilla Mar 06 '22 at 19:27

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 18 '17 at 13:30

0

CSS itself doesn't use variables. However, you can use another language like SASS or LESS

answered Aug 18 '17 at 13:30

Dmitry B.

426
4
11

True, but check the browser compatibility table. You really don't want to use this just yet – giorgio Aug 18 '17 at 13:35

How to define global variables in css

2 Answers2