column-rule

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since March 2017.

The column-rule shorthand CSS property sets the width, style, and color of the line drawn between columns in a multi-column layout.

Try it

column-rule: dotted;
column-rule: solid 6px;
column-rule: solid blue;
column-rule: thick inset blue;
<section id="default-example">
  <p id="example-element">
    London. Michaelmas term lately over, and the Lord Chancellor sitting in
    Lincoln's Inn Hall. Implacable November weather. As much mud in the streets
    as if the waters had but newly retired from the face of the earth, and it
    would not be wonderful to meet a Megalosaurus, forty feet long or so,
    waddling like an elephantine lizard up Holborn Hill.
  </p>
</section>
#example-element {
  columns: 3;
  column-rule: solid;
  text-align: left;
}

Constituent properties

This property is a shorthand for the following CSS properties:

Syntax

column-rule: dotted;
column-rule: solid 8px;
column-rule: solid blue;
column-rule: thick inset blue;

/* Global values */
column-rule: inherit;
column-rule: initial;
column-rule: revert;
column-rule: revert-layer;
column-rule: unset;

Values

The column-rule property is specified as one, two, or three of the values listed below, in any order.

<'column-rule-width'>

Is a <length> or one of the three keywords, thin, medium, or thick. See border-width for details.

<'column-rule-style'>

See border-style for possible values and details.

<'column-rule-color'>

Is a <color> value.

Formal definition

Initial value as each of the properties of the shorthand:
Applies to multicol elements
Inherited no
Computed value as each of the properties of the shorthand:
Animation type as each of the properties of the shorthand:

Formal syntax

column-rule = 
<gap-rule-list> |
<gap-auto-rule-list>

<gap-rule-list> =
<gap-rule-or-repeat>#

<gap-auto-rule-list> =
<gap-rule-or-repeat>#? , <gap-auto-repeat-rule> , <gap-rule-or-repeat>#?

<gap-rule-or-repeat> =
<gap-rule> |
<gap-repeat-rule>

<gap-auto-repeat-rule> =
repeat( auto , <gap-rule># )

<gap-rule> =
<line-width> ||
<line-style> ||
<color>

<gap-repeat-rule> =
repeat( <integer [1,∞]> , <gap-rule># )

<line-width> =
<length [0,∞]> |
thin |
medium |
thick

<line-style> =
none |
hidden |
dotted |
dashed |
solid |
double |
groove |
ridge |
inset |
outset

Examples

Example 1

/* Same as "medium dotted currentcolor" */
p.foo {
  column-rule: dotted;
}

/* Same as "medium solid blue" */
p.bar {
  column-rule: solid blue;
}

/* Same as "8px solid currentcolor" */
p.baz {
  column-rule: solid 8px;
}

p.abc {
  column-rule: thick inset blue;
}

Example 2

HTML

<p class="content-box">
  This is a bunch of text split into three columns. Take note of how the
  `column-rule` property is used to adjust the style, width, and color of the
  rule that appears between the columns.
</p>

CSS

.content-box {
  padding: 0.3em;
  background: #ff7;
  column-count: 3;
  column-rule: inset 2px #33f;
}

Result

Specifications

Browser compatibility

Desktop Mobile
Chrome Edge Firefox Opera Safari Chrome Android Firefox for Android Opera Android Safari on IOS Samsung Internet WebView Android
column-rule 501 1212 52
3.5–74Before Firefox 3, the default value for the normal keyword was 0 and not 1em.
11.115 93 5018 524 11.114 91 5.01.0 504.4

See also

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Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License v2.5 or later.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/column-rule