Web/CSS/break-after

The break-after CSS property sets how page, column, or region breaks should behave after a generated box. If there is no generated box, the property is ignored.

/* Generic break values */
break-after: auto;
break-after: avoid;
break-after: always;
break-after: all;

/* Page break values */
break-after: avoid-page;
break-after: page;
break-after: left;
break-after: right;
break-after: recto;
break-after: verso;

/* Column break values */
break-after: avoid-column;
break-after: column;

/* Region break values */
break-after: avoid-region;
break-after: region;

/* Global values */
break-after: inherit;
break-after: initial;
break-after: unset;

Each possible break point (in other words, each element boundary) is affected by three properties: the break-after value of the previous element, the break-before value of the next element, and the break-inside value of the containing element.

To determine if a break must be done, the following rules are applied:

If any of the three concerned values is a forced break value (always, left, right, page, column, or region), it has precedence. If more than one of them are such a break, the one of the element that appears the latest in the flow is taken (i.e., the break-before value has precedence over the break-after value, which itself has precedence over the break-inside value).
If any of the three concerned values is an avoid break value (avoid, avoid-page, avoid-region, or avoid-column), no such break will be applied at that point.

Once forced breaks have been applied, soft breaks may be added if needed, but not on element boundaries that resolve in a corresponding avoid value.

Syntax

The break-after property is specified as one of the keyword values from the list below.

Values

Generic break values

auto: Allows, but does not force, any break (page, column, or region) to be inserted right after the principal box.
avoid: Avoids any break (page, column, or region) from being inserted right after the principal box.
always ': Forces a page break right after the principal box. The type of this break is that of the immediately-containing fragmentation context. If we are inside a multicol container then it would force a column break, inside paged media (but not inside a multicol container) a page break.
all ': Forces a page break right after the principal box. Breaking through all possible fragmentation contexts. So a break inside a multicol container, which was inside a page container would force a column and page break.

Page break values

avoid-page: Avoids any page break right after the principal box.
page: Forces a page break right after the principal box.
left: Forces one or two page breaks right after the principal box, whichever will make the next page into a left page.
right: Forces one or two page breaks right after the principal box, whichever will make the next page into a right page.
recto ': Forces one or two page breaks right after the principal box, whichever will make the next page into a recto page. (A recto page is a right page in a left-to-right spread or a left page in a right-to-left spread.)
verso ': Forces one or two page breaks right after the principal box, whichever will make the next page into a verso page. (A verso page is a left page in a left-to-right spread or a right page in a right-to-left spread.)

Column break values

avoid-column: Avoids any column break right after the principal box.
column: Forces a column break right after the principal box.

Region break values

avoid-region ': Avoids any region break right after the principal box.
region ': Forces a region break right after the principal box.

Page break aliases

For compatibility reasons, the legacy page-break-after property should be treated by browsers as an alias of break-after. This ensures that sites using page-break-after continue to work as designed. A subset of values should be aliased as follows:

page-break-after	break-after
`auto`	`auto`
`left`	`left`
`right`	`right`
`avoid`	`avoid`
`always`	`page`

The always value of page-break-* was implemented by browsers as a page break, and not as a column break. Therefore the aliasing is to page, rather than the always value in the Level 4 spec.

Formal definition

Initial value	`auto`
Applies to	block-level elements
Inherited	no
Computed value	as specified
Animation type	discrete

Formal syntax

auto | avoid | always | all | avoid-page | page | left | right | recto | verso | avoid-column | column | avoid-region | region

Examples

Breaking into neat columns

In the following example we have a container that contains an <h1> spanning all columns (achieved using column-span: all) and a series of <h2>s and paragraphs laid out in multiple columns using column-width: 200px.

By default, the subheadings and paragraphs were laid out rather messily because the headings were not in a uniform place. However, we used break-after: column on the <p> elements to force a column break after each one, meaning that you end up with an <h2> neatly at the top of each column.

HTML

<article>
  <h1>Main heading</h1>

  <h2>Subheading</h2>

  <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla vitae fringilla mauris. Quisque commodo eget nisi sed pretium. Mauris luctus nec lacus in ultricies. Mauris vitae hendrerit arcu, ac scelerisque lacus. Aliquam lobortis in lacus sit amet posuere. Fusce iaculis urna id neque dapibus, eu lacinia lectus dictum.</p>

  <h2>Subheading</h2>

  <p>Praesent condimentum dui dui, sit amet rutrum diam tincidunt eu. Cras suscipit porta leo sit amet rutrum. Sed vehicula ornare tincidunt. Curabitur a ipsum ac diam mattis volutpat ac ut elit. Nullam luctus justo non vestibulum gravida. Morbi metus libero, pharetra non porttitor a, molestie nec nisi.</p>

  <h2>Subheading</h2>

  <p>Vivamus eleifend metus vitae neque placerat, eget interdum elit mattis. Donec eu vulputate nibh. Ut turpis leo, malesuada quis nisl nec, volutpat egestas tellus.

  <h2>Subheading</h2>

  <p>In finibus viverra enim vel suscipit. Quisque consequat velit eu orci malesuada, ut interdum tortor molestie. Proin sed pellentesque augue. Nam risus justo, faucibus non porta a, congue vel massa. Cras luctus lacus nisl, sed tincidunt velit pharetra ac. Duis suscipit faucibus dui sed ultricies.</p>
</article>

CSS

html {
  font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;
}

h1 {
  font-size: 3rem;
  letter-spacing: 2px;
  column-span: all;
}

h2 {
  font-size: 1.2rem;
  color: red;
  letter-spacing: 1px;
}

p {
  line-height: 1.5;
  break-after: column;
}

article {
  column-width: 200px;
  gap: 20px;
}

Result

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
CSS Fragmentation Module Level 3The definition of 'break-after' in that specification.	Candidate Recommendation	Adds the `recto` and `verso` keywords. Changes the media type of this property from `paged` to `visual`. Defines the breaking algorithm with different kinds of breaks.
CSS Regions Module Level 1The definition of 'break-after' in that specification.	Working Draft	Extends the property to handle region breaks. Adds the `avoid-region` and `region` keywords.
CSS Multi-column Layout ModuleThe definition of 'break-after' in that specification.	Working Draft	Initial definition. Extends the CSS 2.1 `page-break-after` property to handle both page and column breaks.

Browser compatibility

Support in multi-column layout

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
Supported in Multi-column Layout	Chrome Full support 50	Edge Full support 12	Firefox No support No	IE Full support 10	Opera Full support 37 Full support 37 No support 11.1 — 12.1	Safari No support No	WebView Android Full support 50	Chrome Android Full support 50	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android Full support 37 Full support 37 No support 11.1 — 12.1	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android Full support 5.0
`always`	Chrome No support No	Edge No support No	Firefox No support No	IE No support No	Opera No support No	Safari No support No	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android No support No	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android No support No
`avoid-column`	Chrome No support No	Edge No support 12 — 79	Firefox No support No	IE No support No	Opera No support No	Safari No support No	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android No support No	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android No support No
`column`	Chrome Full support 50	Edge Full support 12	Firefox No support No	IE Full support 10	Opera No support 11.1 — 15 No support 11.1 — 15 Full support 37	Safari No support No	WebView Android Full support 50	Chrome Android Full support 50	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android No support 11.1 — 14 No support 11.1 — 14 Full support 37	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android Full support 5.0

Legend

Full support: Full support
No support: No support

Support in paged media

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
Supported in Paged Media	Chrome Full support 50	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 65	IE Full support 10	Opera Full support 37 Full support 37 No support 11.1 — 12.1	Safari Full support 10	WebView Android Full support 50	Chrome Android Full support 50	Firefox Android Full support 65	Opera Android Full support 37 Full support 37 No support 11.1 — 12.1	Safari iOS Full support 10	Samsung Internet Android Full support 5.0
`always`	Chrome No support No	Edge No support 12 — 79	Firefox No support No	IE Full support 10	Opera No support 11.1 — 12.1	Safari No support No	WebView Android Full support 50	Chrome Android No support No	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android No support No
`page` and `avoid-page`	Chrome Full support 50	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 65	IE Full support 10	Opera No support 11.1 — 12.1	Safari Full support 10	WebView Android Full support 50	Chrome Android Full support 50	Firefox Android Full support 65	Opera Android Full support 37	Safari iOS Full support 10	Samsung Internet Android Full support 5.0
`recto` and `verso`	Chrome No support No	Edge No support No	Firefox No support No	IE No support No	Opera No support No	Safari No support No	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android No support No	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android No support No

Legend

Full support: Full support
No support: No support

break-after by Mozilla Contributors is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.5.