CSS white-space Property

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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>

Try it Yourself »

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>

Try it Yourself »

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>

Try it Yourself »

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>

Try it Yourself »

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: any sequence of preserved white space always takes up space, including at the end of the line a line breaking opportunity exists after every preserved white space character, including between white space characters such preserved spaces take up space and do not hang, and thus affect the box’s intrinsic sizes
initial	Makes the property use its default value.	Play it »
inherit	Inherits the property from its parents element.