CSS white-space attribute

Definition and Usage

The white-space property sets how white space is handled within an element.

This property declaration specifies how white space is handled within an element during the layout process. The values pre-wrap and pre-line were added in CSS 2.1.

See Also:

CSS Tutorial:CSS Text

HTML DOM Reference Manual:whiteSpace Property

Example

Specifies that the text within a paragraph should not be wrapped.

p
  {
  white-space: nowrap;
  }

Try it Yourself

CSS Syntax

white-space: normal|nowrap|pre|pre-line|pre-wrap|initial|inherit;

Property Value

Value Description
normal Default. Whitespace is ignored by the browser.
pre Whitespace is preserved by the browser. Its behavior is similar to the <pre> tag in HTML.
nowrap Text does not wrap. Text continues on the same line until a <br> tag is encountered.
pre-wrap Preserves white space sequences, but breaks lines normally.
pre-line Collapses white space sequences, but preserves newline characters.
inherit Specifies that the value of the white-space attribute should be inherited from the parent element.

Technical Details

Default Value: normal
Inheritance: yes
Version: CSS1
JavaScript Syntax: object.style.whiteSpace="pre"

More examples

Prevent text wrapping within an element
This example demonstrates how to prevent text wrapping within an element.

Browser support

The numbers in the table indicate the first browser version that fully supports this attribute.

Chrome IE / Edge Firefox Safari Opera
1.0 8.0 3.5 3.0 9.5