white-space

The white-space CSS property sets how white space inside an element is handled.

The property specifies two things:

Whether and how white space is collapsed.
Whether lines may wrap at soft-wrap opportunities.

Note: To make words break within themselves, use overflow-wrap, word-break, or hyphens instead.

Syntax

/* Keyword values */
white-space: normal;
white-space: nowrap;
white-space: pre;
white-space: pre-wrap;
white-space: pre-line;
white-space: break-spaces;

/* Global values */
white-space: inherit;
white-space: initial;
white-space: revert;
white-space: unset;

The white-space property is specified as a single keyword chosen from the list of values below.

Values

normal

Sequences of white space are collapsed. Newline characters in the source are handled the same as other white space. Lines are broken as necessary to fill line boxes.

nowrap

Collapses white space as for normal, but suppresses line breaks (text wrapping) within the source.

pre

Sequences of white space are preserved. Lines are only broken at newline characters in the source and at <br> elements.

pre-wrap

Sequences of white space are preserved. Lines are broken at newline characters, at <br>, and as necessary to fill line boxes.

pre-line

Sequences of white space are collapsed. Lines are broken at newline characters, at <br>, and as necessary to fill line boxes.

break-spaces

The behavior is identical to that of pre-wrap, except that:

Any sequence of preserved white space always takes up space, including at the end of the line.
A line breaking opportunity exists after every preserved white space character, including between white space characters.
Such preserved spaces take up space and do not hang, and thus affect the box's intrinsic sizes (min-content size and max-content size).

The following table summarizes the behavior of the various white-space values:

	New lines	Spaces and tabs	Text wrapping	End-of-line spaces	End-of-line other space separators
`normal`	Collapse	Collapse	Wrap	Remove	Hang
`nowrap`	Collapse	Collapse	No wrap	Remove	Hang
`pre`	Preserve	Preserve	No wrap	Preserve	No wrap
`pre-wrap`	Preserve	Preserve	Wrap	Hang	Hang
`pre-line`	Preserve	Collapse	Wrap	Remove	Hang
`break-spaces`	Preserve	Preserve	Wrap	Wrap	Wrap

Note: There is a distinction made between spaces and other space separators. These are defined as follows:

spaces: Spaces (U+0020), tabs (U+0009), and segment breaks (such as newlines).
other space separators: All other space separators defined in Unicode, other than those already defined as spaces.

Where white space is said to hang, this can affect the size of the box when measured for intrinsic sizing.

The CSS Text specification contains a Collapsing and Transformation section that precisely defines what "white space is collapsed" means, including an example with an illustration. Usually, it means reducing sequences of multiple white-space characters down to a single space character — though in some cases it means reducing them to no character (the empty string).

Formal definition

Initial value	`normal`
Applies to	all elements
Inherited	yes
Computed value	as specified
Animation type	discrete

Formal syntax

normal | pre | nowrap | pre-wrap | pre-line | break-spaces

Examples

Basic example

code {
  white-space: pre;
}

Line breaks inside <pre> elements

pre {
  white-space: pre-wrap;
}

In action

HTML

<div id="css-code" class="box">
  p { white-space:
  <select>
    <option>normal</option>
    <option>nowrap</option>
    <option>pre</option>
    <option>pre-wrap</option>
    <option>pre-line</option>
    <option>break-spaces</option>
  </select> }
</div>
<div id="results" class="box">
  <p>    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.

    Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

    Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur.

    Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.</p>
</div>

.box {
  width: 300px;
  padding: 16px;
  border-radius: 10px;
}

#css-code {
  background-color: rgb(220, 220, 220);
  font-size: 16px;
  font-family: monospace;
}

#css-code select {
  font-family: inherit;
}

#results {
  background-color: rgb(230, 230, 230);
  overflow-x: scroll;
  height: 400px;
  white-space: normal;
  font-size: 14px;
}

var select  = document.querySelector("#css-code select");
var results = document.querySelector("#results p");
select.addEventListener("change", function(e) {
  results.setAttribute("style", "white-space: "+e.target.value);
})

<p> Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.</p>

Result

Specifications

Specification
CSS Text Module Level 3 # white-space-property

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser