border-color

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since July 2015.

The border-color shorthand CSS property sets the color of an element's border.

Try it

border-color: red;

border-color: red #32a1ce;

border-color: red rgba(170, 50, 220, 0.6) green;

border-color: red yellow green hsla(60, 90%, 50%, 0.8);

border-color: red yellow green transparent;

<section class="default-example" id="default-example">
  <div class="transition-all" id="example-element">
    This is a box with a border around it.
  </div>
</section>

#example-element {
  background-color: #eee;
  color: #000;
  border: 0.75em solid;
  padding: 0.75em;
  width: 80%;
  height: 100px;
}

Each side can be set individually using border-top-color, border-right-color, border-bottom-color, and border-left-color; or using the writing mode-aware border-block-start-color, border-block-end-color, border-inline-start-color, and border-inline-end-color.

You can find out more information about border colors in Applying colors to HTML elements.

Constituent properties

This property is a shorthand for the following CSS properties:

Syntax

/* <color> values */
border-color: red;

/* top and bottom | left and right */
border-color: red #f015ca;

/* top | left and right | bottom */
border-color: red rgb(240 30 50 / 70%) green;

/* top | right | bottom | left */
border-color: red yellow green blue;

/* Global values */
border-color: inherit;
border-color: initial;
border-color: revert;
border-color: revert-layer;
border-color: unset;

The border-color property may be specified using one, two, three, or four values.

When one value is specified, it applies the same color to all four sides.
When two values are specified, the first color applies to the top and bottom, the second to the left and right.
When three values are specified, the first color applies to the top, the second to the left and right, the third to the bottom.
When four values are specified, the colors apply to the top, right, bottom, and left in that order (clockwise).

Values

<color>: Defines the color of the border.

Formal definition

Initial value	as each of the properties of the shorthand: `border-top-color`: `currentcolor` `border-right-color`: `currentcolor` `border-bottom-color`: `currentcolor` `border-left-color`: `currentcolor`
Applies to	all elements. It also applies to `::first-letter`.
Inherited	no
Computed value	as each of the properties of the shorthand: `border-bottom-color`: computed color `border-left-color`: computed color `border-right-color`: computed color `border-top-color`: computed color
Animation type	as each of the properties of the shorthand: `border-bottom-color`: a color `border-left-color`: a color `border-right-color`: a color `border-top-color`: a color

Formal syntax

border-color = 
  [ <color> | <image-1D> ]{1,4}  

<image-1D> = 
  <stripes()>  

<stripes()> = 
  stripes( <color-stripe># )  

<color-stripe> = 
  <color>                            &&
  [ <length-percentage> | <flex> ]?  

<length-percentage> = 
  <length>      |
  <percentage>

Examples

Complete border-color usage

HTML

<div id="justone">
  <p><code>border-color: red;</code> is equivalent to</p>
  <ul>
    <li><code>border-top-color: red;</code></li>
    <li><code>border-right-color: red;</code></li>
    <li><code>border-bottom-color: red;</code></li>
    <li><code>border-left-color: red;</code></li>
  </ul>
</div>
<div id="horzvert">
  <p><code>border-color: gold red;</code> is equivalent to</p>
  <ul>
    <li><code>border-top-color: gold;</code></li>
    <li><code>border-right-color: red;</code></li>
    <li><code>border-bottom-color: gold;</code></li>
    <li><code>border-left-color: red;</code></li>
  </ul>
</div>
<div id="topvertbott">
  <p><code>border-color: red cyan gold;</code> is equivalent to</p>
  <ul>
    <li><code>border-top-color: red;</code></li>
    <li><code>border-right-color: cyan;</code></li>
    <li><code>border-bottom-color: gold;</code></li>
    <li><code>border-left-color: cyan;</code></li>
  </ul>
</div>
<div id="trbl">
  <p><code>border-color: red cyan black gold;</code> is equivalent to</p>
  <ul>
    <li><code>border-top-color: red;</code></li>
    <li><code>border-right-color: cyan;</code></li>
    <li><code>border-bottom-color: black;</code></li>
    <li><code>border-left-color: gold;</code></li>
  </ul>
</div>

CSS

#justone {
  border-color: red;
}

#horzvert {
  border-color: gold red;
}

#topvertbott {
  border-color: red cyan gold;
}

#trbl {
  border-color: red cyan black gold;
}

/* Set width and style for all divs */
div {
  border: solid 0.3em;
  width: auto;
  margin: 0.5em;
  padding: 0.5em;
}

ul {
  margin: 0;
  list-style: none;
}

Result

Specifications

Specification
CSS Logical Properties and Values Level 1 # logical-shorthand-keyword
CSS Backgrounds and Borders Module Level 3 # border-color

Browser compatibility

	Desktop					Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Opera	Safari	Chrome Android	Firefox for Android	Opera Android	Safari on IOS	Samsung Internet	WebView Android
`border-color`	1	12	1	3.5	1	18	4	10.1	1	1.0	4