CSS word-wrap

The word-wrap property is an alternate name for the overflow-wrap property. It specifies whether or not unbreakable words can in fact be broken arbitrarily to prevent overflow.

When a word or other string is too long to fit inside its box, the word-wrap property can be used to force the word to be broken at an arbitrary point if there are no otherwise-acceptable break points in the line, so that it can wrap to the next line.

The word-wrap property only has an effect when the white-space property allows wrapping (it does by default).

Syntax

Possible Values

normal

Specifies that lines may break only at allowed break points. However, the restrictions introduced by word-break: keep-all may be relaxed to match word-break: normal if there are no otherwise-acceptable break points in the line.

break-word

Allows unbreakable words to be broken at an arbitrary point if there are no otherwise-acceptable break points in the line. No hyphenation character is inserted at the break point.

anywhere

To prevent overflow, an otherwise unbreakable string of characters may be broken at any point if there are no otherwise-acceptable break points in the line. No hyphenation character is inserted at the break point. Soft wrap opportunities introduced by the anywhere value are considered when calculating min-content intrinsic sizes.

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 word-wrap property is defined in CSS Text Module Level 3.

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.