hyphens
The hyphens
CSS property specifies how words should be hyphenated when text wraps across multiple lines. It can prevent hyphenation entirely, hyphenate at manually-specified points within the text, or let the browser automatically insert hyphens where appropriate.
Note: In the above demo, the string "An extraordinarily long English word!" contains the hidden ­
(soft hyphen) character: An extra­ordinarily long English word!
. This character is used to indicate a potential place to insert a hyphen when hyphens: manual;
is specified.
Hyphenation rules are language-specific. In HTML, the language is determined by the lang
attribute, and browsers will hyphenate only if this attribute is present and the appropriate hyphenation dictionary is available. In XML, the xml:lang
attribute must be used.
Note: The rules defining how hyphenation is performed are not explicitly defined by the specification, so the exact hyphenation may vary from browser to browser.
If supported, hyphenate-character
may be used to specify an alternative hyphenation character to use at the end of the line being broken.
Syntax
/* Keyword values */
hyphens: none;
hyphens: manual;
hyphens: auto;
/* Global values */
hyphens: inherit;
hyphens: initial;
hyphens: revert;
hyphens: unset;
The hyphens
property is specified as a single keyword value chosen from the list below.
Values
none
-
Words are not broken at line breaks, even if characters inside the words suggest line break points. Lines will only wrap at whitespace.
manual
-
Words are broken for line-wrapping only where characters inside the word suggest line break opportunities. See Suggesting line break opportunities below for details.
auto
-
The browser is free to automatically break words at appropriate hyphenation points, following whatever rules it chooses. However, suggested line break opportunities (see Suggesting line break opportunities below) will override automatic break point selection when present.
Note: The auto
setting's behavior depends on the language being properly tagged to select the appropriate hyphenation rules. You must specify a language using the lang
HTML attribute to guarantee that automatic hyphenation is applied in that language.
Suggesting line break opportunities
There are two Unicode characters used to manually specify potential line break points within text:
- U+2010 (HYPHEN)
-
The "hard" hyphen character indicates a visible line break opportunity. Even if the line is not actually broken at that point, the hyphen is still rendered.
- U+00AD (SHY)
-
An invisible, "soft" hyphen. This character is not rendered visibly; instead, it marks a place where the browser should break the word if hyphenation is necessary. In HTML, use
­
to insert a soft hyphen.
Note: When the HTML <wbr>
element leads to a line break, no hyphen is added.
Formal definition
Initial value | manual |
---|---|
Applies to | all elements |
Inherited | yes |
Computed value | as specified |
Animation type | discrete |
Formal syntax
Examples
Specifying text hyphenation
This example uses three classes, one for each possible configuration of the hyphens
property.
HTML
<dl>
<dt><code>none</code>: no hyphen; overflow if needed</dt>
<dd lang="en" class="none">An extreme­ly long English word</dd>
<dt><code>manual</code>: hyphen only at &hyphen; or &shy; (if needed)</dt>
<dd lang="en" class="manual">An extreme­ly long English word</dd>
<dt><code>auto</code>: hyphens where the algorithm decides (if needed)</dt>
<dd lang="en" class="auto">An extreme­ly long English word</dd>
</dl>
CSS
dd {
width: 55px;
border: 1px solid black;
}
dd.none {
-webkit-hyphens: none;
-ms-hyphens: none;
hyphens: none;
}
dd.manual {
-webkit-hyphens: manual;
-ms-hyphens: manual;
hyphens: manual;
}
dd.auto {
-webkit-hyphens: auto;
-ms-hyphens: auto;
hyphens: auto;
}
Result
Specifications
Specification |
---|
CSS Text Module Level 3 # hyphens-property |
Browser compatibility
Report problems with this compatibility data on GitHubdesktop | mobile | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
hyphens | ChromePartial support55 | EdgePartial support79 | FirefoxFull support43 | Internet ExplorerPartial support10 | OperaPartial support44 | SafariFull support5.1 | WebView AndroidFull support55 | Chrome AndroidFull support55 | Firefox for AndroidFull support43 | Opera AndroidFull support43 | Safari on iOSFull support4.2 | Samsung InternetFull support6.0 |
Hyphenation dictionary for Afrikaans (af, af-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support8 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariNo supportNo | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support8 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSNo supportNo | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for Bosnian, Serbian, and Serbo-Croatian (sh, sh-*, sr, sr-*, bs, bs-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support8 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariNo supportNo | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support8 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSNo supportNo | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for Bulgarian (bg, bg-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support8 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariNo supportNo | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support8 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSNo supportNo | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for Catalan (ca, ca-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support8 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariFull support5.1 | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support8 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSFull support5 | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for Croatian (hr, hr-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support8 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariFull support9.1 | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support8 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSFull support9.3 | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for Czech (cs, cs-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxNo supportNo | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariFull support9.1 | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidNo supportNo | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSFull support9.3 | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for Danish (da, da-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support8 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariFull support5.1 | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support8 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSFull support5 | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for Dutch (nl, nl-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support8 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariFull support5.1 | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support8 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSFull support5 | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for English (en, en-*) | ChromeFull support55 | EdgeFull support12 | FirefoxFull support6 | Internet ExplorerFull support10 | OperaFull support44 | SafariFull support5.1 | WebView AndroidFull support55 | Chrome AndroidFull support55 | Firefox for AndroidFull support6 | Opera AndroidFull support43 | Safari on iOSFull support6 | Samsung InternetFull support6.0 |
Hyphenation dictionary for Esperanto (eo, eo-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support8 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariNo supportNo | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support8 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSNo supportNo | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for Estonian (et, et-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support8 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariNo supportNo | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support8 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSNo supportNo | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for Finnish (fi, fi-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support8 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariFull support9.1 | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support8 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSFull support9.3 | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for French (fr, fr-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support8 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariFull support5.1 | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support8 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSFull support5 | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for Galician (gl, gl-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support9 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariNo supportNo | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support9 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSNo supportNo | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for German, Reformed Orthography of 1996 (de, de-1996, de-DE, de-AT, de-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support8 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariFull support5.1 | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support8 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSFull support5 | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for German, Swiss Orthography (de-CH, de-CH-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support8 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariNo supportNo | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support8 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSNo supportNo | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for German, Traditional Orthography of 1901 (de-1901, de-AT-1901, de-DE-1901) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support8 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariNo supportNo | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support8 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSNo supportNo | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for Hungarian (hu, hu-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support9 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariFull support9.1 | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support9 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSFull support9.3 | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for Icelandic (is, is-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support8 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariNo supportNo | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support8 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSNo supportNo | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for Interlingua (ia, ia-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support8 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariNo supportNo | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support8 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSNo supportNo | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for Italian (it, it-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support9 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariFull support5.1 | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support9 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSFull support5 | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for Kurmanji (kmr, kmr-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support8 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariNo supportNo | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support8 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSNo supportNo | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for Latin (la, la-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support8 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariNo supportNo | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support8 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSNo supportNo | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for Lithuanian (lt, lt-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support8 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariNo supportNo | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support8 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSNo supportNo | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for Mongolian (mn, mn-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support8 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariNo supportNo | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support8 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSNo supportNo | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for Norwegian (Nynorsk) (nn, nn-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support8 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariNo supportNo | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support8 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSFull support5 | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for Norwegian (Bokmål) (no, no-*, nb, nb-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support8 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariFull support5.1 | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support8 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSFull support5 | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for Polish (pl, pl-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support31 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariFull support9.1 | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support31 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSFull support9.3 | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for Portuguese (pt, pt-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support8 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariFull support9.1 | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support8 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSFull support9.3 | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for Brazilian Portuguese (pt-BR) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support8 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariNo supportNo | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support8 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSNo supportNo | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for Russian (ru, ru-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support8 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariFull support5.1 | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support8 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSFull support5 | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for Slovenian (sl, sl-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support8 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariNo supportNo | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support8 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSNo supportNo | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for Spanish (es, es-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support8 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariFull support5.1 | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support8 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSFull support5 | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for Swedish (sv, sv-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support8 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariFull support5.1 | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support8 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSFull support5 | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for Turkish (tr, tr-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support9 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariFull support5.1 | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support9 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSFull support5 | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for Ukrainian (uk, uk-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support9 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariFull support9.1 | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support9 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSFull support9.3 | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for Upper Sorbian (hsb, hsb-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support8 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariNo supportNo | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support8 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSNo supportNo | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Hyphenation dictionary for Welsh (cy, cy-*) | ChromeNo supportNo | EdgeNo supportNo | FirefoxFull support8 | Internet ExplorerNo supportNo | OperaNo supportNo | SafariNo supportNo | WebView AndroidNo supportNo | Chrome AndroidNo supportNo | Firefox for AndroidFull support8 | Opera AndroidNo supportNo | Safari on iOSNo supportNo | Samsung InternetNo supportNo |
Legend
- Full support
- Full support
- Partial support
- Partial support
- No support
- No support
- See implementation notes.
- Requires a vendor prefix or different name for use.
See also
content
overflow-wrap
(formerlyword-wrap
)word-break
- Guide to wrapping and breaking text