Web/CSS/text-decoration

The text-decoration shorthand CSS property sets the appearance of decorative lines on text. It is a shorthand for text-decoration-line, text-decoration-color, text-decoration-style, and the newer text-decoration-thickness property.

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Text decorations are drawn across descendant text elements. This means that if an element specifies a text decoration, then a child element can't remove the decoration. For example, in the markup <p>This text has <em>some emphasized words</em> in it.</p>, the style rule p { text-decoration: underline; } would cause the entire paragraph to be underlined. The style rule em { text-decoration: none; } would not cause any change; the entire paragraph would still be underlined. However, the rule em { text-decoration: overline; } would cause a second decoration to appear on "some emphasized words".

Constituent properties

This property is a shorthand for the following CSS properties:

Syntax

The text-decoration property is specified as one or more space-separated values representing the various longhand text-decoration properties.

Values

text-decoration-line: Sets the kind of decoration used, such as underline or line-through.
text-decoration-color: Sets the color of the decoration.
text-decoration-style: Sets the style of the line used for the decoration, such as solid, wavy, or dashed.
text-decoration-thickness: Sets the thickness of the line used for the decoration.

Formal definition

Initial value	as each of the properties of the shorthand: `text-decoration-color`: `currentcolor` `text-decoration-style`: `solid` `text-decoration-line`: `none`
Applies to	all elements. It also applies to `::first-letter` and `::first-line`.
Inherited	no
Computed value	as each of the properties of the shorthand: `text-decoration-line`: as specified `text-decoration-style`: as specified `text-decoration-color`: computed color `text-decoration-thickness`: as specified
Animation type	as each of the properties of the shorthand: `text-decoration-color`: a color `text-decoration-style`: discrete `text-decoration-line`: discrete `text-decoration-thickness`: by computed value type

Formal syntax

<'text-decoration-line'> || <'text-decoration-style'> || <'text-decoration-color'> || <'text-decoration-thickness'>

Examples

Demonstration of text-decoration values

.under {
  text-decoration: underline red;
}

.over {
  text-decoration: wavy overline lime;
}

.line {
  text-decoration: line-through;
}

.plain {
  text-decoration: none;
}

.underover {
  text-decoration: dashed underline overline;
}

.thick {
  text-decoration: solid underline purple 4px;
}

.blink {
  text-decoration: blink;
}

<p class="under">This text has a line underneath it.</p>
<p class="over">This text has a line over it.</p>
<p class="line">This text has a line going through it.</p>
<p>This <a class="plain" href="#">link will not be underlined</a>,
    as links generally are by default. Be careful when removing
    the text decoration on anchors since users often depend on
    the underline to denote hyperlinks.</p>
<p class="underover">This text has lines above <em>and</em> below it.</p>
<p class="thick">This text has a really thick purple underline in supporting browsers.</p>
<p class="blink">This text might blink for you,
    depending on the browser you use.</p>

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
CSS Text Decoration Module Level 4	Working Draft	Adds `text-decoration-thickness`; note that this isn't yet officially part of the shorthand — this is as yet unspecified.
CSS Text Decoration Module Level 3The definition of 'text-decoration' in that specification.	Candidate Recommendation	Transformed into a shorthand property. Added support for the value of `text-decoration-style`.
CSS Level 2 (Revision 1)The definition of 'text-decoration' in that specification.	Recommendation	No significant changes.
CSS Level 1The definition of 'text-decoration' 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
`text-decoration`	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
`blink` Deprecated'	Chrome No support No	Edge No support No	Firefox No support 1 — 23	IE No support No	Opera No support 4 — 15	Safari No support No	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android No support No	Firefox Android No support 4 — 23	Opera Android No support 10.1 — 14	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android No support No
Shorthand	Chrome Full support 57	Edge Full support 79	Firefox Full support 36 Full support 36 Partial support 6	IE No support No	Opera Full support 44	Safari Full support 8 Prefixed' Full support 8 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: -webkit-	WebView Android Full support 57	Chrome Android Full support 57	Firefox Android Full support 36 Full support 36 Partial support 6	Opera Android Full support 43	Safari iOS Full support 8 Prefixed' Full support 8 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: -webkit-	Samsung Internet Android Full support 7.0
`text-decoration-thickness` included in shorthand Experimental'Non-standard'	Chrome No support No	Edge No support No	Firefox Full support 70	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
Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.': Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.
Non-standard. Expect poor cross-browser support.': Non-standard. Expect poor cross-browser support.
Deprecated. Not for use in new websites.': Deprecated. Not for use in new websites.
Requires a vendor prefix or different name for use.': Requires a vendor prefix or different name for use.