How to apply CSS to second word in a string? - css

Question

If I have the following string: John Smith, how could I use CSS to set font-weight: bold on the second word in order to achieve: John Smith.
Can this be done in pure CSS?
Update: I am retrieving user's name from the server, so in my template it is #{user.profile.name}.

Answer 1

Since a js solution was suggested and pure CSS isn't presently possible: Live demo (click).
Sample markup:
<p class="bold-second-word">John Smith</p>
<p class="bold-second-word">This guy and stuff.</p>
JavaScript:
var toBold = document.getElementsByClassName('bold-second-word');
for (var i=0; i<toBold.length; ++i) {
boldSecondWord(toBold[i]);
}
function boldSecondWord(elem) {
elem.innerHTML = elem.textContent.replace(/\w+ (\w+)/, function(s, c) {
return s.replace(c, '<b>'+c+'</b>');
});
}

Answer 2

It cannot be done in pure CSS, sorry. But if you are willing to accept a JavaScript fix, then you might want to look into something like this:
Find the start and end index of the second word in the element's textContent.
Add contenteditable attribute to element.
Use the Selection API to select that range.
Use execCommand with the bold command.
Remove contenteditable attribute.
EDIT: (just saw your edit) I agree this is a bit too hack-y for most uses. Perhaps you'd be better off saving what the last name is as meta-data?

Answer 3

It seems to be impossible by using only pure CSS. However, with a bit of JS you could get there pretty easily:
const phrases = document.querySelectorAll('.bold-second-word');
for (const phrase of phrases) {
const words = phrase.innerHTML.split(' ');
words[1] = `<b>${words[1]}</b>`; // this would return the second word
phrase.innerHTML = words.join(' ');
}
<p class="bold-second-word">John Smith</p>
<p class="bold-second-word">Aaron Kelly Jones</p>