white-space

Summary

The white-space CSS property is used to to describe how white spaces inside the element is handled.

Initial value normal
Applies to all elements
Inherited yes
Media visual
Computed value as specified
Animatable no
Canonical order the unique non-ambiguous order defined by the formal grammar

Syntax

Formal syntax: normal | pre | nowrap | pre-wrap | pre-line

white-space: normal
white-space: nowrap
white-space: pre
white-space: pre-wrap
white-space: pre-line

white-space: inherit

Values

normal: Sequences of whitespace are collapsed. Newline characters in the source are handled as other whitespace. Breaks lines as necessary to fill line boxes.
nowrap: Collapses whitespace as for normal, but suppresses line breaks (text wrapping) within text.
pre: Sequences of whitespace are preserved, lines are only broken at newline characters in the source and at <br> elements.
pre-wrap: Sequences of whitespace are preserved. Lines are broken at newline characters, at <br>, and as necessary to fill line boxes.
pre-line: Sequences of whitespace are collapsed. Lines are broken at newline characters, at <br>, and as necessary to fill line boxes.

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

	New lines	Spaces and tabs	Text wrapping
`normal`	Collapse	Collapse	Wrap
`nowrap`	Collapse	Collapse	No wrap
`pre`	Preserve	Preserve	No wrap
`pre-wrap`	Preserve	Preserve	Wrap
`pre-line`	Preserve	Collapse	Wrap

Examples

code { 
  white-space: pre; 
}

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
CSS Text Level 3 The definition of 'white-space' in that specification.	Working Draft	Precises the breaking algorithms.
CSS Level 2 (Revision 1) The definition of 'white-space' in that specification.	Recommendation	Initial specification.

Feature	Chrome	Firefox (Gecko)	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari (WebKit)
Basic support (`normal` and `nowrap`)	1.0	1.0 (1.7 or earlier)	5.5 [1]	4.0	1.0 (85)
`pre`	1.0	1.0	6.0	4.0	1.0 (85)
`pre-wrap`	1.0	1.0 (1.7 or earlier) — 3.5 (1.9.1)-moz 3.0 (1.9)	8.0	8.0	3.0 (522)
`pre-line`	1.0	3.5 (1.9.1)	8.0	9.5	3.0 (522)
Support on `<textarea>`	1.0	36 (36)	5.5	4.0	1.0 (85)

Feature	Android	Firefox Mobile (Gecko)	IE Phone	Opera Mobile	Safari Mobile
Basic support	?	?	?	?	?

[1] Internet Explorer 5.5+ supports word-wrap: break-word;
The following code allows line breaking inside pre elements:

pre {
  word-wrap: break-word;      /* IE 5.5-7 */
  white-space: -moz-pre-wrap; /* Firefox 1.0-2.0 */
  white-space: pre-wrap;      /* current browsers */
}