The white-space property specifies how the white space inside an element is handled. A white space can be a sequence of spaces or a line break.
This property can be applied to any inline content within an element.
Extra specified spaces are collapsed into one, newlines are removed, and lines are broken and wrap where necessary to fit inside their container.
Initial Value | normal |
Applies to | Inline-level and table-cell elements, also applies to ::first-letter and ::first-line. |
Inherited | No. |
Animatable | Yes. The vertical-align is animatable. |
Version | CSS1 |
DOM Syntax | object.style.whiteSpace = "nowrap"; |
Syntax
white-space: normal | nowrap | pre | pre-line | pre-wrap | break-space | initial | inherit;
Example of the white-space property with the "normal" value:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Title of the document</title>
<style>
div {
white-space: normal;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h2>White-space property example</h2>
<div>
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text.Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text. Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text. Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text. Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text. Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text. Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text. Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text.
</div>
</body>
</html>
Result
In this example, the text does not wrap to the next line.
Example of thewhite-space property with the "nowrap" value:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Title of the document</title>
<style>
div {
white-space: nowrap;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h2>White-space property example</h2>
<div>
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text.Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text. Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text. Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text. Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text. Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text. Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text. Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text.
</div>
</body>
</html>
Example of the white-space property with the "pre-line" value:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Title of the document</title>
<style>
div {
white-space: pre-line;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h2>White-space property example</h2>
<div>
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text.Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text. Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text. Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text.Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text. Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text. Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text. Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text.
</div>
</body>
</html>
In the next example, you can see the difference between the "nowrap", "normal" and "pre-wrap" values.
Example of the white-space property with three values:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Title of the document</title>
<style>
p.t1 {
white-space: nowrap;
}
p.t2 {
white-space: normal;
}
p.t3 {
white-space: pre-wrap;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h2>White-space property example</h2>
<h3>white-space: nowrap;</h3>
<p class="t1">
Lorem Ipsum is dummy text. Lorem Ipsum is dummied text. Lorem Ipsum is dummied text. Lorem Ipsum is dummied text. Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text. Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text.
</p>
<h3>white-space: normal;</h3>
<p class="t2">
Lorem Ipsum is dummied text. Lorem Ipsum is dummied text. Lorem Ipsum is dummied text. Lorem Ipsum is dummied text. Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text. Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text.
</p>
<h3>white-space: pre-line;</h3>
<p class="t3">
Lorem Ipsum is dummied text. Lorem Ipsum is dummied text. Lorem Ipsum is dummied text. Lorem Ipsum is dummied text. Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text. Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text.
</p>
</body>
</html>
Values
Value | Description | Play it |
---|---|---|
normal | Breaks lines as necessary to fill line boxes. This is the default value of this property. | Play it » |
nowrap | With this value the text will never wrap to the next line. | Play it » |
pre | Allows to have extra spaces on the line before the first letter of the text. | Play it » |
pre-line | Sequences of whitespace collapse into a single whitespace. Text will wrap when necessary, and on line breaks. | Play it » |
pre-wrap | Whitespace is preserved by the browser. Text will wrap when necessary, and on line breaks. | Play it » |
break-space | The same behavior as "pre-wrap" except:
|
|
initial | Makes the property use its default value. | Play it » |
inherit | Inherits the property from its parents element. |
Browser support
1.0+ | 1.0+ | 1.0+ | 4.0+ |
Practice Your Knowledge
What are some of the properties of the 'white-space' value in CSS?
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