Web/CSS/border-collapse

The border-collapse CSS property sets whether cells inside a <table> have shared or separate borders.

The source for this interactive example is stored in a GitHub repository. If you'd like to contribute to the interactive examples project, please clone https://github.com/mdn/interactive-examples and send us a pull request.

When cells are collapsed, the border-style value of inset behaves like groove, and outset behaves like ridge.

When cells are separated, the distance between cells is defined by the border-spacing property.

Syntax

/* Keyword values */
border-collapse: collapse;
border-collapse: separate;

/* Global values */
border-collapse: inherit;
border-collapse: initial;
border-collapse: unset;

The border-collapse property is specified as a single keyword, which may be chosen from the list below.

Values

collapse: Adjacent cells have shared borders (the collapsed-border table rendering model).
separate: Adjacent cells have distinct borders (the separated-border table rendering model).

Formal definition

Initial value	`separate`
Applies to	`table` and `inline-table` elements
Inherited	yes
Computed value	as specified
Animation type	discrete

Formal syntax

collapse | separate

Examples

A colorful table of browser engines

HTML

<table class="separate">
  <caption><code>border-collapse: separate</code></caption>
  <tbody>
    <tr><th>Browser</th> <th>Layout Engine</th></tr>
    <tr><td class="fx">Firefox</td> <td class="gk">Gecko</td></tr>
    <tr><td class="ed">Edge</td> <td class="tr">EdgeHTML</td></tr>
    <tr><td class="sa">Safari</td> <td class="wk">Webkit</td></tr>
    <tr><td class="ch">Chrome</td> <td class="bk">Blink</td></tr>
    <tr><td class="op">Opera</td> <td class="bk">Blink</td></tr>
  </tbody>
</table>
<table class="collapse">
  <caption><code>border-collapse: collapse</code></caption>
  <tbody>
    <tr><th>Browser</th> <th>Layout Engine</th></tr>
    <tr><td class="fx">Firefox</td> <td class="gk">Gecko</td></tr>
    <tr><td class="ed">Edge</td> <td class="tr">EdgeHTML</td></tr>
    <tr><td class="sa">Safari</td> <td class="wk">Webkit</td></tr>
    <tr><td class="ch">Chrome</td> <td class="bk">Blink</td></tr>
    <tr><td class="op">Opera</td> <td class="bk">Blink</td></tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

CSS

.collapse {
  border-collapse: collapse;
}

.separate {
  border-collapse: separate;
}

table {
  display: inline-table;
  margin: 1em;
  border: dashed 5px;
}

table th,
table td {
  border: solid 3px;
}

.fx { border-color: orange blue; }
.gk { border-color: black red; }
.ed { border-color: blue gold; }
.tr { border-color: aqua; }
.sa { border-color: silver blue; }
.wk { border-color: gold blue; }
.ch { border-color: red yellow green blue; }
.bk { border-color: navy blue teal aqua; }
.op { border-color: red; }

Result

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
CSS Level 2 (Revision 1)The definition of 'border-collapse' in that specification.	Recommendation	Initial definition

Browser compatibility

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
`border-collapse`	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 1	IE Full support 5	Opera Full support 4	Safari Full support 1.2	WebView Android Full support 2.3	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support 10.1	Safari iOS Full support 3	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0

Legend

Full support: Full support