Web/CSS/empty-cells

The empty-cells CSS property sets whether borders and backgrounds appear around <table> cells that have no visible content.

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.

This property has an effect only when the border-collapse property is separate.

Syntax

/* Keyword values */
empty-cells: show;
empty-cells: hide;

/* Global values */
empty-cells: inherit;
empty-cells: initial;
empty-cells: unset;

The empty-cells property is specified as one of the keyword values listed below.

Values

show: Borders and backgrounds are drawn like in normal cells.
hide: No borders or backgrounds are drawn.

Formal definition

Initial value	`show`
Applies to	table-cell elements
Inherited	yes
Computed value	as specified
Animation type	discrete

Formal syntax

show | hide

Example

Showing and hiding empty table cells

HTML

<table class="table_1">
  <tr>
    <td>Moe</td>
    <td>Larry</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Curly</td>
    <td></td>
  </tr>
</table>
<br>
<table class="table_2">
  <tr>
    <td>Moe</td>
    <td>Larry</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Curly</td>
    <td></td>
  </tr>
</table>

CSS

.table_1 {
  empty-cells: show;
}

.table_2 {
  empty-cells: hide;
}

td,
th {
  border: 1px solid gray;
  padding: 0.5rem;
}

Result

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
CSS Level 2 (Revision 1)The definition of 'empty-cells' 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
`empty-cells`	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 1	IE Full support 8	Opera Full support 4	Safari Full support 1.2	WebView Android Full support 1	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support 10.1	Safari iOS Full support 3.1	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0

Legend

Full support: Full support

empty-cells by Mozilla Contributors is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.5.