Using SVG Icon Path in CSS Classes

I’m embedding the following SVG icon as a path in my HTML page:

&lt;svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="10" height="10" viewBox="0 0 16 16"&gt; &lt;path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4.646 1.646a.5.5 0 0 1 .708 0l6 6a.5.5 0 0 1 0 .708l-6 6a.5.5 0 0 1-.708-.708L10.293 8 4.646 2.354a.5.5 0 0 1 0-.708z"/&gt;&lt;/svg&gt;

1	<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="10" height="10" viewBox="0 0 16 16"> <path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4.646 1.646a.5.5 0 0 1 .708 0l6 6a.5.5 0 0 1 0 .708l-6 6a.5.5 0 0 1-.708-.708L10.293 8 4.646 2.354a.5.5 0 0 1 0-.708z"/></svg>

How can I include the above SVG icon path as a class in CSS? So I can just use it as an attribute in my HTML page like this:

&lt;i class="chevron-right"&gt;&lt;/i&gt;

1	<i class="chevron-right"></i>

Solution

Use it as background:

.chevron-right {
 display: inline-block;
 width: 1rem;
 background: url('data:image/svg+xml;utf8,&lt;svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="10" height="10" viewBox="0 0 16 16"&gt;&lt;path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4.646 1.646a.5.5 0 0 1 .708 0l6 6a.5.5 0 0 1 0 .708l-6 6a.5.5 0 0 1-.708-.708L10.293 8 4.646 2.354a.5.5 0 0 1 0-.708z"/&gt;&lt;/svg&gt;') 0 0/contain no-repeat;
}
.chevron-right::before {
 content: "";
 display: block;
 padding-top: 100%;
}

.chevron-right {

display: inline-block;

width: 1rem;

background: url('data:image/svg+xml;utf8,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="10" height="10" viewBox="0 0 16 16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4.646 1.646a.5.5 0 0 1 .708 0l6 6a.5.5 0 0 1 0 .708l-6 6a.5.5 0 0 1-.708-.708L10.293 8 4.646 2.354a.5.5 0 0 1 0-.708z"/></svg>') 0 0/contain no-repeat;

}

.chevron-right::before {

content: "";

display: block;

padding-top: 100%;

}

&lt;i class="chevron-right"&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
&lt;i class="chevron-right" style="width:2rem"&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
&lt;i class="chevron-right" style="width:4rem"&gt;&lt;/i&gt;

Alternative:

In case you want coloration consider mask:

.chevron-right {
 display: inline-block;
 width: 1rem;
 -webkit-mask: url('data:image/svg+xml;utf8,&lt;svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="10" height="10" viewBox="0 0 16 16"&gt;&lt;path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4.646 1.646a.5.5 0 0 1 .708 0l6 6a.5.5 0 0 1 0 .708l-6 6a.5.5 0 0 1-.708-.708L10.293 8 4.646 2.354a.5.5 0 0 1 0-.708z"/&gt;&lt;/svg&gt;') 0 0/contain;
 background: currentColor;
}
.chevron-right::before {
 content: "";
 display: block;
 padding-top: 100%;
}

.chevron-right {

display: inline-block;

width: 1rem;

-webkit-mask: url('data:image/svg+xml;utf8,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="10" height="10" viewBox="0 0 16 16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4.646 1.646a.5.5 0 0 1 .708 0l6 6a.5.5 0 0 1 0 .708l-6 6a.5.5 0 0 1-.708-.708L10.293 8 4.646 2.354a.5.5 0 0 1 0-.708z"/></svg>') 0 0/contain;

background: currentColor;

}

.chevron-right::before {

content: "";

display: block;

padding-top: 100%;

}

&lt;i class="chevron-right"&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
&lt;i class="chevron-right" style="width:2rem;color:red;"&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
&lt;i class="chevron-right" style="width:4rem;color:blue;"&gt;&lt;/i&gt;

Alternative 2:

Using SVG as background image With my solution you’re able to get something similar: Here is bulletproff solution: Your html: <input class='calendarIcon'/> Your SVG: i used fa-calendar-alt (any IDE may open svg image as shown below)

&lt;svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 448 512"&gt;
 &lt;path d="M148 288h-40c-6.6 0-12-5.4-12-12v-40c0-6.6 5.4-12 12-12h40c6.6 0 12 5.4 12 12v40c0 6.6-5.4 12-12 12zm108-12v-40c0-6.6-5.4-12-12-12h-40c-6.6 0-12 5.4-12 12v40c0 6.6 5.4 12 12 12h40c6.6 0 12-5.4 12-12zm96 0v-40c0-6.6-5.4-12-12-12h-40c-6.6 0-12 5.4-12 12v40c0 6.6 5.4 12 12 12h40c6.6 0 12-5.4 12-12zm-96 96v-40c0-6.6-5.4-12-12-12h-40c-6.6 0-12 5.4-12 12v40c0 6.6 5.4 12 12 12h40c6.6 0 12-5.4 12-12zm-96 0v-40c0-6.6-5.4-12-12-12h-40c-6.6 0-12 5.4-12 12v40c0 6.6 5.4 12 12 12h40c6.6 0 12-5.4 12-12zm192 0v-40c0-6.6-5.4-12-12-12h-40c-6.6 0-12 5.4-12 12v40c0 6.6 5.4 12 12 12h40c6.6 0 12-5.4 12-12zm96-260v352c0 26.5-21.5 48-48 48H48c-26.5 0-48-21.5-48-48V112c0-26.5 21.5-48 48-48h48V12c0-6.6 5.4-12 12-12h40c6.6 0 12 5.4 12 12v52h128V12c0-6.6 5.4-12 12-12h40c6.6 0 12 5.4 12 12v52h48c26.5 0 48 21.5 48 48zm-48 346V160H48v298c0 3.3 2.7 6 6 6h340c3.3 0 6-2.7 6-6z"/&gt;
&lt;/svg&gt;

</svg>

To use it at css background-image you gotta encode the svg to address valid string. I used this tool (name: URL Decoder—Convert garbled address) As far as you got all stuff you need, you’re coming to css

.calendarIcon{
 //your url will be something like this:
 background-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,***&lt;here place encoded svg&gt;***");
 background-repeat: no-repeat;
 }

.calendarIcon{

//your url will be something like this:

background-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,***<here place encoded svg>***");

background-repeat: no-repeat;

}

Note: these styling wont have any effect on encoded svg image

.{
 fill: #f00; //neither this
 background-color: #f00; //nor this
}

fill: #f00; //neither this

background-color: #f00; //nor this

}

because all changes over the image must be applied directly to its svg code <svg xmlns="" path="" fill="#f00"/></svg> To achive the location righthand i copied some Bootstrap spacing and my final css get the next look:

.calendarIcon{
 background-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg...svg%3E");
 background-repeat: no-repeat;
 padding-right: calc(1.5em + 0.75rem);
 background-position: center right calc(0.375em + 0.1875rem);
 background-size: calc(0.75em + 0.375rem) calc(0.75em + 0.375rem);
 }