::first-letter CSS pseudo-element selector

CSS pseudo-element that allows styling only the first "letter" of text within an element. Useful for implementing initial caps or drop caps styling.

Spec	https://www.w3.org/TR/css3-selectors/#first-letter
Status	W3C Recommendation

IE	Edge	Firefox	Chrome	Safari	Opera
			98
		95	97
		94	96	TP
11	95	93	95	15	80
10	94	92	94	14.1	79
9	93	91	93	14	78
8 (3)	92	90	92	13.1	77
Show all
7 (3,4)	91	89	91	13	76
6 (3,4)	90	88	90	12.1	75
5.5	89	87	89	12	74
	88	86	88	11.1	73
	87	85	87	11	72
	86	84	86	10.1	71
	85	83	85	10	70
	84	82	84	9.1	69
	83	81	83	9	68
	81	80	81	8	67
	80	79	80	7.1	66
	79	78	79	7	65
	18	77	78	6.1	64
	17	76	77	6	63
	16	75	76	5.1	62
	15	74	75	5	60
	14	73	74	4 (1)	58
	13	72	73	3.2 (1)	57
	12	71	72	3.1	56
		70	71		55
		69	70		54
		68	69		53
		67	68		52
		66	67		51
		65	66		50
		64	65		49
		63	64		48
		62	63		47
		61	62		46
		60	61		45
		59	60		44
		58	59		43
		57	58		42
		56	57		41
		55	56		40
		54	55		39
		53	54		38
		52	53		37
		51	52		36
		50	51		35
		49	50		34
		48	49		33
		47	48		32
		46	47		31
		45	46		30
		44	45		29
		43	44		28
		42	43		27
		41	42		26
		40	41		25
		39	40		24
		38	39		23
		37	38		22
		36	37		21
		35	36		20
		34	35		19
		33	34		18
		32	33		17
		31	32		16
		30	31		15
		29	30		12.1
		28	29		12
		27	28		11.6
		26	27		11.5 (2)
		25	26		11.1 (2)
		24	25		11 (2)
		23	24		10.6 (2)
		22	23		10.5 (2)
		21	22		10.0-10.1 (2)
		20	21		9.5-9.6
		19	20		9
		18	19
		17	18
		16	17
		15	16
		14	15
		13	14
		12	13
		11	12
		10	11
		9	10
		8	9
		7	8
		6	7
		5	6
		4	5
		3.6	4 (1)
		3.5
		3 (1)
		2 (2)

Safari on iOS	Opera Mini	Android Browser	Blackberry Browser	Opera Mobile	Android Chrome	Android Firefox	IE Mobile	Android UC Browser	Samsung Internet	QQ Browser	Baidu Browser	KaiOS Browser
15	all	94	10	64	94	92	11	12.12	15.0	10.4	7.12	2.5
14.5-14.8		4.4.3-4.4.4	7	12.1			10		14.0
14.0-14.4		4.4		12					13.0
13.4-13.7		4.2-4.3		11.5 (2)					12.0
Show all
13.3		4.1		11.1 (2)					11.1-11.2
13.2		4		11 (2)					10.1
13.0-13.1		3		10 (2)					9.2
12.2-12.5		2.3 (1)							8.2
12.0-12.1		2.2							7.2-7.4
11.3-11.4		2.1							6.2-6.4
11.0-11.2									5.0-5.4
10.3									4
10.0-10.2
9.3
9.0-9.2
8.1-8.4
8
7.0-7.1
6.0-6.1
5.0-5.1
4.2-4.3
4.0-4.1
3.2

Notes

The spec says that both letters of digraphs which are always capitalized together (such as "IJ" in Dutch) should be matched by ::first-letter, but no browser has ever implemented this.

1. Excludes punctuation immediately after the first letter from the match. (The spec says it should be included in the match.)

2. Acts like the first character is always a letter even when it's not. For example, given "!,X;", "!," is matched instead of the entire string.

3. Only recognizes the deprecated :first-letter pseudo-class, not the ::first-letter pseudo-element.

4. Only matches the very first character. The spec says that surrounding punctuation should also match.

Bugs

• In webkit-based browsers first character of text inside elements, styled with ::first-letter, is not highlighted while selecting the text. See bug

• Firefox appears to incorrectly cut off the top & bottom of a ::first-letter character in certain cases see Firefox bug #1233271

Resources

• MDN Web Docs - :first-letter