font-variant-ligatures

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since January 2020.

The font-variant-ligatures CSS property controls which ligatures and contextual forms are used in the textual content of the elements it applies to. This leads to more harmonized forms in the resulting text.

Try it

Syntax

css
/* Keyword values */
font-variant-ligatures: normal;
font-variant-ligatures: none;
font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; /* <common-lig-values> */
font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; /* <common-lig-values> */
font-variant-ligatures: discretionary-ligatures; /* <discretionary-lig-values> */
font-variant-ligatures: no-discretionary-ligatures; /* <discretionary-lig-values> */
font-variant-ligatures: historical-ligatures; /* <historical-lig-values> */
font-variant-ligatures: no-historical-ligatures; /* <historical-lig-values> */
font-variant-ligatures: contextual; /* <contextual-alt-values> */
font-variant-ligatures: no-contextual; /* <contextual-alt-values> */

/* Two keyword values */
font-variant-ligatures: no-contextual common-ligatures;

/* Four keyword values */
font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures no-discretionary-ligatures
  historical-ligatures contextual;

/* Global values */
font-variant-ligatures: inherit;
font-variant-ligatures: initial;
font-variant-ligatures: revert;
font-variant-ligatures: revert-layer;
font-variant-ligatures: unset;

The font-variant-ligatures property is specified as normal, none, or one or more of the other value types listed below. Spaces separate multiple values.

Values

normal

This keyword activates the usual ligatures and contextual forms needed for correct rendering. The ligatures and forms activated depend on the font, language, and kind of script. This is the default value.

none

This keyword specifies that all ligatures and contextual forms are disabled, even common ones.

<common-lig-values>

These values control the most common ligatures, like for fi, ffi, th, or similar. They correspond to the OpenType values liga and clig. Two values are possible:

  • common-ligatures activating these ligatures. Note that the keyword normal activates these ligatures.
  • no-common-ligatures deactivating these ligatures.
<discretionary-lig-values>

These values control specific ligatures, specific to the font and defined by the type designer. They correspond to the OpenType values dlig. Two values are possible:

  • discretionary-ligatures activating these ligatures.
  • no-discretionary-ligatures deactivating the ligatures. Note that the keyword normal usually deactivates these ligatures.
<historical-lig-values>

These values control the ligatures used historically, in old books, like the German tz digraph being displayed as ꜩ. They correspond to the OpenType values hlig. Two values are possible:

  • historical-ligatures activating these ligatures.
  • no-historical-ligatures deactivating the ligatures. Note that the keyword normal usually deactivates these ligatures.
<contextual-alt-values>

These values control whether letters adapt to their context—that is, whether they adapt to the surrounding letters. These values correspond to the OpenType values calt. Two values are possible:

  • contextual specifies that the contextual alternates are to be used. Note that the keyword normal usually activates these ligatures too.
  • no-contextual prevents their use.

Formal definition

Initial valuenormal
Applies toall elements and text. It also applies to ::first-letter and ::first-line.
Inheritedyes
Computed valueas specified
Animation typediscrete

Formal syntax

font-variant-ligatures = 
  normal                                              |
  none                                                |
  [ <common-lig-values> || <discretionary-lig-values> || <historical-lig-values> || <contextual-alt-values> ]  

<common-lig-values> = 
  common-ligatures     |
  no-common-ligatures  

<discretionary-lig-values> = 
  discretionary-ligatures     |
  no-discretionary-ligatures  

<historical-lig-values> = 
  historical-ligatures     |
  no-historical-ligatures  

<contextual-alt-values> = 
  contextual     |
  no-contextual

Examples

Setting font ligatures and contextual forms

HTML

html
<link href="//fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Lora" rel="stylesheet" />
<p class="normal">
  normal<br />
  if fi ff tf ft jf fj
</p>
<p class="none">
  none<br />
  if fi ff tf ft jf fj
</p>
<p class="common-ligatures">
  common-ligatures<br />
  if fi ff tf ft jf fj
</p>
<p class="no-common-ligatures">
  no-common-ligatures<br />
  if fi ff tf ft jf fj
</p>
<p class="discretionary-ligatures">
  discretionary-ligatures<br />
  if fi ff tf ft jf fj
</p>
<p class="no-discretionary-ligatures">
  no-discretionary-ligatures<br />
  if fi ff tf ft jf fj
</p>
<p class="historical-ligatures">
  historical-ligatures<br />
  if fi ff tf ft jf fj
</p>
<p class="no-historical-ligatures">
  no-historical-ligatures<br />
  if fi ff tf ft jf fj
</p>
<p class="contextual">
  contextual<br />
  if fi ff tf ft jf fj
</p>
<p class="no-contextual">
  no-contextual<br />
  if fi ff tf ft jf fj
</p>

CSS

css
p {
  font-family: Lora, serif;
}
.normal {
  font-variant-ligatures: normal;
}

.none {
  font-variant-ligatures: none;
}

.common-ligatures {
  font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;
}

.no-common-ligatures {
  font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;
}

.discretionary-ligatures {
  font-variant-ligatures: discretionary-ligatures;
}

.no-discretionary-ligatures {
  font-variant-ligatures: no-discretionary-ligatures;
}

.historical-ligatures {
  font-variant-ligatures: historical-ligatures;
}

.no-historical-ligatures {
  font-variant-ligatures: no-historical-ligatures;
}

.contextual {
  font-variant-ligatures: contextual;
}

.no-contextual {
  font-variant-ligatures: no-contextual;
}

Result

Specifications

Specification
CSS Fonts Module Level 4
# font-variant-ligatures-prop

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser

See also