CSS text-align-last

View Output

The text-align-last property defines how the last line of justified text is aligned before a forced line break.

A line break is where inline-level content breaks over into a new line. It can be either a soft wrap break, where it occurs due to wrapping, or a forced line break where it occurs due to explicit line-breaking controls, or due to the start or end of a block.

The text-align-last property only affects inline-level content before a forced line break, as it is only concerned with the last line of text.

Syntax

Possible Values

auto
Specifies that the text is aligned as per text-align unless text-align is set to justify. In this case, content is justified if text-align is distribute and start-aligned otherwise.
start
The last line is aligned to the start edge of the line box. This is the left side for left-to-right content, and the right side on right-to-left content.
end
The last line is aligned to the end edge of the line box. This is the right side for left-to-right content, and the left side on right-to-left content.
left
The last line is aligned to the left of the box.
right
The last line is aligned to the right of the box.
center
The last line is aligned to the center of the box.
justify
The last line is justified across the box — the text is aligned to both edges of the box.
match-parent
This value behaves the same as inherit (computes to its parent's computed value) except that an inherited start or end keyword is interpreted against its parent's direction value and results in a computed value of either left or right.

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
Block containers.
Inherited?
Yes
Animatable
Discrete (see example)

Example Code

Basic CSS

Working Example within an HTML Document

View Output

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.