Counters are denoted by case-sensitive identifiers (see the 'counter-increment' and 'counter-reset' properties). To refer to the value of a counter, the notation 'counter(<identifier>)' or 'counter(<identifier>, <'list-style-type'>)', with optional white space separating the tokens, is used. The default style is 'decimal'.

To refer to a sequence of nested counters of the same name, the notation is 'counters(<identifier>, <string>)' or 'counters(<identifier>, <string>, <'list-style-type'>)' with optional white space separating the tokens.

See "Nested counters and scope" in the chapter on generated content for how user agents must determine the value or values of the counter. See the definition of counter values of the 'content' property for how it must convert these values to a string.

In CSS 2.2, the values of counters can only be referred to from the 'content' property. Note that 'none' is a possible <'list-style-type'>: 'counter(x, none)' yields an empty string.

Here is a style sheet that numbers paragraphs (p) for each chapter (h1). The paragraphs are numbered with roman numerals, followed by a period and a space:

p {counter-increment: par-num}
h1 {counter-reset: par-num}
p:before {content: counter(par-num, upper-roman) ". "}

4.3.5 Colors

This section has been replaced by CSS Color Module Level 3 [CSS3COLOR].

4.3.6 Strings

This section has been replaced by CSS Syntax Module Level 3 [CSS3SYN].

4.3.7 Unsupported Values

This section has been replaced by CSS Syntax Module Level 3 [CSS3SYN].

4.4 CSS style sheet representation

This section has been replaced by CSS Syntax Module Level 3 [CSS3SYN].

4.4.1 Referring to characters not represented in a character encoding

This section has been replaced by CSS Syntax Module Level 3 [CSS3SYN].

4 Syntax and basic data types

4.1 Syntax

4.1.1 Tokenization

4.1.2 Keywords

4.1.2.1 Vendor-specific extensions

4.1.2.2 Informative Historical Notes

4.1.3 Characters and case

4.1.4 Statements

4.1.5 At-rules

4.1.6 Blocks

4.1.7 Rule sets, declaration blocks, and selectors

4.1.8 Declarations and properties

4.1.9 Comments

4.2 Rules for handling parsing errors

4.3 Values

4.3.1 Integers and real numbers

4.3.2 Lengths

4.3.3 URLs and URIs

4.3.4 Counters

4.3.5 Colors

4.3.6 Strings

4.3.7 Unsupported Values

4.4 CSS style sheet representation

4.4.1 Referring to characters not represented in a character encoding