caret-color

The caret-color CSS property sets the color of the insertion caret — the visible indicator of the point at which the next character typed by the user will be inserted — within an element such as <input> or one with the contenteditable attribute set. The caret is typically a thin vertical line that flashes to help make it more noticeable. By default, it is black, but its color can be altered with this property.

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.

Note that the insertion caret is only one type of caret. For example, many browsers have a “navigation caret,” which acts similarly to an insertion caret but can be moved around in non-editable text. On the other hand, the mouse cursor image shown when hovering over text where the cursor property is auto, or when hovering over an element where the cursor property is text or vertical-text, though it sometimes looks like a caret, is not a caret (it’s a cursor).

Syntax

/* Keyword values */
caret-color: auto;
caret-color: transparent;
caret-color: currentColor;

/* <color> values */
caret-color: red;
caret-color: #5729e9;
caret-color: rgb(0, 200, 0);
caret-color: hsla(228, 4%, 24%, 0.8);

Values

auto

The user agent selects an appropriate color for the caret. This is generally currentcolor, but the user agent may choose a different color to ensure good visibility and contrast with the surrounding content, taking into account the value of currentcolor, the background, shadows, and other factors.

Note: While user agents may use currentcolor (which is usually animatable) for the auto value, auto is not interpolated in transitions and animations.

<color>

The color of the caret.

Formal syntax

auto | <color>
where 
<color> = <rgb()> | <rgba()> | <hsl()> | <hsla()> | <hex-color> | <named-color> | currentcolor | <deprecated-system-color>
where 
<rgb()> = rgb( <percentage>{3} [ / <alpha-value> ]? ) | rgb( <number>{3} [ / <alpha-value> ]? ) | rgb( <percentage>#{3} , <alpha-value>? ) | rgb( <number>#{3} , <alpha-value>? )
<rgba()> = rgba( <percentage>{3} [ / <alpha-value> ]? ) | rgba( <number>{3} [ / <alpha-value> ]? ) | rgba( <percentage>#{3} , <alpha-value>? ) | rgba( <number>#{3} , <alpha-value>? )
<hsl()> = hsl( <hue> <percentage> <percentage> [ / <alpha-value> ]? ) | hsl( <hue>, <percentage>, <percentage>, <alpha-value>? )
<hsla()> = hsla( <hue> <percentage> <percentage> [ / <alpha-value> ]? ) | hsla( <hue>, <percentage>, <percentage>, <alpha-value>? )
where 
<alpha-value> = <number> | <percentage>
<hue> = <number> | <angle>

Example

HTML

<input value="This field uses a default caret." size="64"/>
<input class="custom" value="I have a custom caret color!" size="64"/>
<p contenteditable class="custom">This paragraph can be
   edited, and its caret has a custom color as well!</p>

CSS

input {
  caret-color: auto;
  display: block;
  margin-bottom: .5em;
}

input.custom {
  caret-color: red;
}


p.custom {
  caret-color: green;
}

Result

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• The <input> element
• The HTML contenteditable attribute, which can be used to make any element's text editable
• Making content editable
• Applying color to HTML elements using CSS
• The <color> data type
• Other color-related properties: color, background-color, border-color, outline-color, text-decoration-color, text-emphasis-color, text-shadow, caret-color, and column-rule-color