The <string>
CSS data type represents a sequence of characters. Strings are used in numerous CSS properties, such as content
, font-family
, and quotes
.
Syntax
The <string>
data type is composed of any number of Unicode characters surrounded by either double ("
) or single ('
) quotes.
Most characters can be represented literally. All characters can also be represented with their respective Unicode code points in hexadecimal, in which case they are preceded by a backslash (\
). For example, \22
represents a double quote, \27
a single quote ('
), and \A9
the copyright symbol (©
).
Importantly, certain characters which would otherwise be invalid can be escaped with a backslash. These include double quotes when used inside a double-quoted string, single quotes when used inside a single-quoted string, and the backslash itself. For example, \\
will create a single backslash.
To output new lines, you must escape them with a line feed character such as \A
or \00000A
. In your code, however, strings can span multiple lines, in which case each new line must be escaped with a \
as the last character of the line.
However, to get new lines, you must also set the white-space
property to appropriate value.
Note: HTML entities (such as
or —
) cannot be used in a CSS <string>
.
Examples
Examples of valid strings
/* Simple strings */ "This string is demarcated by double quotes." 'This string is demarcated by single quotes.' /* Character escaping */ "This is a string with \" an escaped double quote." "This string also has \22 an escaped double quote." 'This is a string with \' an escaped single quote.' 'This string also has \27 an escaped single quote.' "This is a string with \\ an escaped backslash." /* New line in a string */ "This string has a \Aline break in it." /* String spanning two lines of code (these two strings will have identical output) */ "A really long \ awesome string" "A really long awesome string"
Specifications
Specification | Status | Comment |
---|---|---|
CSS Values and Units Module Level 3The definition of '<string>' in that specification. | Candidate Recommendation | No significant change from CSS Level 2 (Revision 1). |
CSS Level 2 (Revision 1)The definition of '<string>' in that specification. | Recommendation | Explicit definition; allows 6-digit Unicode escaped characters. |
CSS Level 1The definition of '<string>' in that specification. | Recommendation | Implicit definition; allows 4-digit Unicode escaped characters. |
Browser compatibility
The compatibility table on this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.
Update compatibility data on GitHub
Desktop | Mobile | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
<string> | Chrome
Full support 1 |
Edge
Full support 12 |
Firefox
Full support 1 |
IE
Full support 3 |
Opera
Full support 3.5 |
Safari
Full support 1 |
WebView Android
Full support ≤37 |
Chrome Android
Full support 18 |
Firefox Android
Full support 4 |
Opera Android
Full support 10.1 |
Safari iOS
Full support 1 |
Samsung Internet Android
Full support 1.0 |
Unicode escaped characters (\xx )
|
Chrome
Full support 1 |
Edge
Full support 12 |
Firefox
Full support 1 |
IE
Full support 6 |
Opera
Full support 7 |
Safari
Full support 1 |
WebView Android
Full support ≤37 |
Chrome Android
Full support 18 |
Firefox Android
Full support 4 |
Opera Android
Full support 10.1 |
Safari iOS
Full support 1 |
Samsung Internet Android
Full support 1.0 |
Legend
- Full support
- Full support
See Also
<string> by Mozilla Contributors is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.5.