How can I prefix ordered list item numbers with a static string using CSS?

Question

I want this HTML:

<ol style="list-style:decimal;">
<li>Apples</li>
<li>Oranges</li>
</ol>

to render like this:

Q1. Apples
Q2. Oranges

Ie, I want to prefix "Q" to each number.

I've tried CSS like this:

ol li::before {
  content: "Q";
}

but that renders like this:

1. QApples
2. QOranges

I've also tried using list-style: numbered inside;, but that just shifts the list to the right with the same results. I can't find any way to reference the numbers in order to style them with CSS. This seems like such a simple, common scenario, yet I can't find any way to accomplish it with straightforward CSS (without CSS counters, JavaScript, etc).

Answer 1

The only pure CSS way is with counters:

ol {
    counter-reset: item;
    list-style-type: none;
}

ol li:before {
    content: 'Q' counter(item, decimal) '. ';
    counter-increment: item;
}

You cannot achieve this besides using CSS counters (which were designed specifically for such use cases!) or JavaScript.

By the way, it's decimal, not numbered.