---
layout: has_navigation
title: Sass Basics
introduction: >
  Before you can use Sass, you need to set it up on your project. If you want to
  just browse here, go ahead, but we recommend you go install Sass first. [Go
  here](/install) if you want to learn how to get everything set up.
navigation: |
  <h3>Topics</h3>

  <nav class="sl-c-list-navigation-wrapper">

  - [Preprocessing](#preprocessing)
  - [Variables](#variables)
  - [Nesting](#nesting)
  - [Partials](#partials)
  - [Modules](#modules)
  - [Mixins](#mixins)
  - [Inheritance](#inheritance)
  - [Operators](#operators)

  </nav>
---

<section id="preprocessing">
{% # retain older link %}
<span id="topic-1"></span>

{% markdown %}
  ## Preprocessing

  CSS on its own can be fun, but stylesheets are getting larger, more
  complex, and harder to maintain. This is where a preprocessor can help.
  Sass has features that don't exist in CSS yet like nesting, mixins,
  inheritance, and other nifty goodies that help you write robust,
  maintainable CSS.

  Once you start tinkering with Sass, it will take your preprocessed Sass
  file and save it as a normal CSS file that you can use in your website.

  The most direct way to make this happen is in your terminal. Once Sass is
  installed, you can compile your Sass to CSS using the `sass` command.
  You'll need to tell Sass which file to build from, and where to output CSS
  to. For example, running `sass input.scss output.css` from your terminal
  would take a single Sass file, `input.scss`, and compile that file to
  `output.css`.

  You can also watch individual files or directories with the `--watch`
  flag. The watch flag tells Sass to watch your source files for changes,
  and re-compile CSS each time you save your Sass. If you wanted to watch
  (instead of manually build) your `input.scss` file, you'd just add the
  watch flag to your command, like so:

  ```shellsession
  sass --watch input.scss output.css
  ```

  You can watch and output to directories by using folder paths as your
  input and output, and separating them with a colon. In this example:

  ```shellsession
  sass --watch app/sass:public/stylesheets
  ```

  Sass would watch all files in the `app/sass` folder for changes, and
  compile CSS to the `public/stylesheets` folder.
{% endmarkdown %}

{% funFact %}
  Sass has two syntaxes! The SCSS syntax (`.scss`) is used most commonly. It's
  a superset of CSS, which means all valid CSS is also valid SCSS. The
  indented syntax (`.sass`) is more unusual: it uses indentation rather than
  curly braces to nest statements, and newlines instead of semicolons to
  separate them. All our examples are available in both syntaxes.
{% endfunFact %}

</section>

<hr>

<section id="variables">
{% # retain older link %}
<span id="topic-2"></span>

{% markdown %}
  ## Variables

  Think of variables as a way to store information that you want to reuse
  throughout your stylesheet. You can store things like colors, font stacks,
  or any CSS value you think you'll want to reuse. Sass uses the `$` symbol
  to make something a variable. Here's an example:
{% endmarkdown %}

{% codeExample 'variables' %}
  $font-stack: Helvetica, sans-serif;
  $primary-color: #333;

  body {
    font: 100% $font-stack;
    color: $primary-color;
  }
  ===
  $font-stack: Helvetica, sans-serif
  $primary-color: #333

  body
    font: 100% $font-stack
    color: $primary-color
{% endcodeExample %}

{% markdown %}
  When the Sass is processed, it takes the variables we define for the
  `$font-stack` and `$primary-color` and outputs normal CSS with our
  variable values placed in the CSS. This can be extremely powerful when
  working with brand colors and keeping them consistent throughout the site.
{% endmarkdown %}

</section>

<hr>

<section id="nesting">
{% # retain older link %}
<span id="topic-3"></span>

{% markdown %}
  ## Nesting

  When writing HTML you've probably noticed that it has a clear nested and
  visual hierarchy. CSS, on the other hand, doesn't.

  Sass will let you nest your CSS selectors in a way that follows the same
  visual hierarchy of your HTML. Be aware that overly nested rules will
  result in over-qualified CSS that could prove hard to maintain and is
  generally considered bad practice.

  With that in mind, here's an example of some typical styles for a site's
  navigation:
{% endmarkdown %}

{% codeExample 'nesting' %}
  nav {
    ul {
      margin: 0;
      padding: 0;
      list-style: none;
    }

    li { display: inline-block; }

    a {
      display: block;
      padding: 6px 12px;
      text-decoration: none;
    }
  }
  ===
  nav
    ul
      margin: 0
      padding: 0
      list-style: none

    li
      display: inline-block

    a
      display: block
      padding: 6px 12px
      text-decoration: none
{% endcodeExample %}

{% markdown %}
  You'll notice that the `ul`, `li`, and `a` selectors are nested inside the
  `nav` selector. This is a great way to organize your CSS and make it more
  readable.
{% endmarkdown %}

</section>

<hr>

<section id="partials">
{% # retain older link %}
<span id="topic-4"></span>

{% markdown %}
  ## Partials

  You can create partial Sass files that contain little snippets of CSS that
  you can include in other Sass files. This is a great way to modularize
  your CSS and help keep things easier to maintain. A partial is a
  Sass file named with a leading underscore. You might name it something
  like `_partial.scss`. The underscore lets Sass know that the file is only
  a partial file and that it should not be generated into a CSS file. Sass
  partials are used with the `@use` rule.
{% endmarkdown %}

</section>

<hr>

<section id="modules">
{% # retain older link %}
<span id="topic-5"></span>

{% markdown %}
  ## Modules

  {% render 'doc_snippets/module-system-status' %}

  You don't have to write all your Sass in a single file. You can split it up
  however you want with the `@use` rule. This rule loads another Sass file as
  a *module*, which means you can refer to its variables, [mixins][], and
  [functions][] in your Sass file with a namespace based on the filename.
  Using a file will also include the CSS it generates in your compiled output!

  [mixins]: #mixins
  [functions]: documentation/at-rules/function
{% endmarkdown %}

{% codeExample 'modules' %}
  // _base.scss
  $font-stack: Helvetica, sans-serif;
  $primary-color: #333;

  body {
    font: 100% $font-stack;
    color: $primary-color;
  }
  ---
  // styles.scss
  @use 'base';

  .inverse {
    background-color: base.$primary-color;
    color: white;
  }
  ===
  // _base.sass
  $font-stack: Helvetica, sans-serif
  $primary-color: #333

  body
    font: 100% $font-stack
    color: $primary-color
  ---
  // styles.sass
  @use 'base'

  .inverse
    background-color: base.$primary-color
    color: white
  ===
  body {
    font: 100% Helvetica, sans-serif;
    color: #333;
  }

  .inverse {
    background-color: #333;
    color: white;
  }
{% endcodeExample %}

{% markdown %}
  Notice we're using `@use 'base';` in the `styles.scss` file. When you use a
  file you don't need to include the file extension. Sass is smart and will
  figure it out for you.
{% endmarkdown %}

</section>

<hr>

<section id="mixins">
{% # retain older link %}
<span id="topic-6"></span>

{% markdown %}
  ## Mixins

  Some things in CSS are a bit tedious to write, especially with CSS3 and
  the many vendor prefixes that exist. A mixin lets you make groups of CSS
  declarations that you want to reuse throughout your site. It helps keep your
  Sass very DRY. You can even pass in values to make your mixin more flexible.
  Here's an example for `theme`.
{% endmarkdown %}

{% codeExample 'mixins' %}
  @mixin theme($theme: DarkGray) {
    background: $theme;
    box-shadow: 0 0 1px rgba($theme, .25);
    color: #fff;
  }

  .info {
    @include theme;
  }
  .alert {
    @include theme($theme: DarkRed);
  }
  .success {
    @include theme($theme: DarkGreen);
  }
  ===
  @mixin theme($theme: DarkGray)
    background: $theme
    box-shadow: 0 0 1px rgba($theme, .25)
    color: #fff

  .info
    @include theme

  .alert
    @include theme($theme: DarkRed)

  .success
    @include theme($theme: DarkGreen)
{% endcodeExample %}

{% markdown %}
  To create a mixin you use the `@mixin` directive and give it a name. We've
  named our mixin `theme`. We're also using the variable `$theme`
  inside the parentheses so we can pass in a `theme` of whatever we want.
  After you create your mixin, you can then use it as a CSS declaration
  starting with `@include` followed by the name of the mixin.
{% endmarkdown %}

</section>

<hr>

<section id="inheritance">
{% # retain older link %}
<span id="topic-7"></span>

{% markdown %}
  ## Extend/Inheritance

  Using `@extend` lets you share a set of CSS properties from one selector to
  another. In our example we're going to create a simple series of messaging
  for errors, warnings and successes using another feature which goes hand in
  hand with extend, placeholder classes. A placeholder class is a special type
  of class that only prints when it is extended, and can help keep your
  compiled CSS neat and clean.
{% endmarkdown %}

{% codeExample 'extend-inheritance' %}
  /* This CSS will print because %message-shared is extended. */
  %message-shared {
    border: 1px solid #ccc;
    padding: 10px;
    color: #333;
  }

  // This CSS won't print because %equal-heights is never extended.
  %equal-heights {
    display: flex;
    flex-wrap: wrap;
  }

  .message {
    @extend %message-shared;
  }

  .success {
    @extend %message-shared;
    border-color: green;
  }

  .error {
    @extend %message-shared;
    border-color: red;
  }

  .warning {
    @extend %message-shared;
    border-color: yellow;
  }
  ===
  /* This CSS will print because %message-shared is extended. */
  %message-shared
    border: 1px solid #ccc
    padding: 10px
    color: #333

  // This CSS won't print because %equal-heights is never extended.
  %equal-heights
    display: flex
    flex-wrap: wrap

  .message
    @extend %message-shared

  .success
    @extend %message-shared
    border-color: green

  .error
    @extend %message-shared
    border-color: red

  .warning
    @extend %message-shared
    border-color: yellow
{% endcodeExample %}

{% markdown %}
  What the above code does is tells `.message`, `.success`, `.error`, and
  `.warning` to behave just like `%message-shared`. That means anywhere that
  `%message-shared` shows up, `.message`, `.success`, `.error`, & `.warning`
  will too. The magic happens in the generated CSS, where each of these
  classes will get the same CSS properties as `%message-shared`. This helps
  you avoid having to write multiple class names on HTML elements.

  You can extend most simple CSS selectors in addition to placeholder
  classes in Sass, but using placeholders is the easiest way to make sure
  you aren't extending a class that's nested elsewhere in your styles, which
  can result in unintended selectors in your CSS.

  Note that the CSS in `%equal-heights` isn't generated, because
  `%equal-heights` is never extended.
{% endmarkdown %}

</section>

<hr>

<section id="operators">
{% # retain older link %}
<span id="topic-8"></span>

{% markdown %}
  ## Operators

  Doing math in your CSS is very helpful. Sass has a handful of standard
  math operators like `+`, `-`, `*`, `math.div()`, and `%`. In our example
  we're going to do some simple math to calculate widths for an `article` and
  `aside`.
{% endmarkdown %}

{% codeExample 'operators' %}
  @use "sass:math";

  .container {
    display: flex;
  }

  article[role="main"] {
    width: math.div(600px, 960px) * 100%;
  }

  aside[role="complementary"] {
    width: math.div(300px, 960px) * 100%;
    margin-left: auto;
  }
  ===
  @use "sass:math"

  .container
    display: flex

  article[role="main"]
    width: math.div(600px, 960px) * 100%

  aside[role="complementary"]
    width: math.div(300px, 960px) * 100%
    margin-left: auto
  ===
  .container {
    display: flex;
  }

  article[role="main"] {
    width: 62.5%;
  }

  aside[role="complementary"] {
    width: 31.25%;
    margin-left: auto;
  }
{% endcodeExample %}

{% markdown %}
  We've created a very simple fluid grid, based on 960px. Operations in Sass
  let us do something like take pixel values and convert them to percentages
  without much hassle.
{% endmarkdown %}

</section>