CSS column-rule

The CSS column-rule property is a shorthand property for setting multiple column rule related properties in one place.

Specifically, the property sets the column-rule-width, column-rule-style, and column-rule-color properties.

The column rule appears as a kind of border that appears in between the columns on a multi-column layout.

The CSS column-rule property is a time-efficient way of adding a rule to your multi-column layouts.

Syntax

Possible Values

<column-rule-width>

Defines the width that the column rules should be. The values are the same as those allowed by the border-width property. The value can be either thin, medium, or thick, or it can be an explicit width (e.g., 5px). For more information on this value, see the column-width property.

<column-rule-style>

Defines the style for the column rule. The values are the same as those allowed by the border-style property and are none, hidden, dotted, dashed, solid, double, groove, ridge, inset, and outset. For more information on this value, see the column-rule-style property.

<column-rule-color>

Defines the color for the column rule. For more information on this value, see the column-rule-color property.

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

Example Code

Basic CSS

Working Example within an HTML Document

CSS Specifications

• The column-rule property is defined in CSS Multi-column Layout Module Level 1 (W3C Working Draft).

Browser Support

Browser support for CSS properties can vary, particularly for newer or experimental features. Check current browser compatibility before using a property in production, especially when supporting older browsers.

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

Initial Value

CSS properties have an initial value that applies when the property has not been explicitly set. The initial value is different from the value inherited from a parent element and may vary between properties.

Inheritance

Some CSS properties inherit their computed value from their parent element by default, while others do not. The inherit, initial, unset, and revert keywords can also be used to control how a property gets its value.

Vendor Prefixes

Most modern CSS properties use the standard, unprefixed syntax. Vendor-prefixed properties such as -webkit- are mainly relevant to older browser versions or specific features and should only be used when required by your browser support targets.