CSS caret-color

View Output

The CSS caret-color property specifies the color of the caret.

The caret is the visible indicator of the insertion point in an element where text (and potentially other content) is inserted by the user. It's the little vertical line that blinks when you click in an element such as the input element when using the text type (or another type that accepts text input). The caret-color property allows you to specify what color this caret is.

Syntax

Possible Values

auto
Specifies that the user agent should use currentColor. However, user agents may automatically adjust the color of caret to ensure good visibility and contrast with the surrounding content, possibly based on the currentColor, background, shadows, etc
color
Uses a specific color for the caret.

In addition, all CSS properties also accept the following CSS-wide keyword values as the sole component of their property value:

initial
Represents the value specified as the property's initial value.
inherit
Represents the computed value of the property on the element's parent.
unset
This value acts as either inherit or initial, depending on whether the property is inherited or not. In other words, it sets all properties to their parent value if they are inheritable or to their initial value if not inheritable.

Basic Property Information

Initial Value
auto
Applies To
All elements
Inherited?
Yes
Media
Interactive
Animation Type
As a color (see example)

Example Code

CSS Specifications

Browser Support

The following table provided by Caniuse.com shows the level of browser support for this feature.

Vendor Prefixes

For maximum browser compatibility many web developers add browser-specific properties by using extensions such as -webkit- for Safari, Google Chrome, and Opera (newer versions), -ms- for Internet Explorer, -moz- for Firefox, -o- for older versions of Opera etc. As with any CSS property, if a browser doesn't support a proprietary extension, it will simply ignore it.

This practice is not recommended by the W3C, however in many cases, the only way you can test a property is to include the CSS extension that is compatible with your browser.

The major browser manufacturers generally strive to adhere to the W3C specifications, and when they support a non-prefixed property, they typically remove the prefixed version. Also, W3C advises vendors to remove their prefixes for properties that reach Candidate Recommendation status.

Many developers use Autoprefixer, which is a postprocessor for CSS. Autoprefixer automatically adds vendor prefixes to your CSS so that you don't need to. It also removes old, unnecessary prefixes from your CSS.

You can also use Autoprefixer with preprocessors such as Less and Sass.