hyphens

The hyphens CSS property specifies how words should be hyphenated when text wraps across multiple lines. It can prevent hyphenation entirely, hyphenate at manually-specified points within the text, or let the browser automatically insert hyphens where appropriate.

Note: In the above demo, the string "An extra­ordinarily long English word!" contains the hidden ­ character: An extra­­ordinarily long English word!. This character is used to indicate a potential place to insert a hyphen when hyphens: manual; is specified.

Hyphenation rules are language-specific. In HTML, the language is determined by the lang attribute, and browsers will hyphenate only if this attribute is present and the appropriate hyphenation dictionary is available. In XML, the xml:lang attribute must be used.

Note: The rules defining how hyphenation is performed are not explicitly defined by the specification, so the exact hyphenation may vary from browser to browser.

Syntax

/* Keyword values */
hyphens: none;
hyphens: manual;
hyphens: auto;

/* Global values */
hyphens: inherit;
hyphens: initial;
hyphens: revert;
hyphens: unset;

The hyphens property is specified as a single keyword value chosen from the list below.

Values

none

Words are not broken at line breaks, even if characters inside the words suggest line break points. Lines will only wrap at whitespace.

manual

Words are broken for line-wrapping only where characters inside the word suggest line break opportunities. See Suggesting line break opportunities below for details.

auto

The browser is free to automatically break words at appropriate hyphenation points, following whatever rules it chooses. However, suggested line break opportunities (see Suggesting line break opportunities below) will override automatic break point selection when present.

Note: The auto setting's behavior depends on the language being properly tagged to select the appropriate hyphenation rules. You must specify a language using the lang HTML attribute to guarantee that automatic hyphenation is applied in that language.

Suggesting line break opportunities

There are two Unicode characters used to manually specify potential line break points within text:

U+2010 (HYPHEN)

The "hard" hyphen character indicates a visible line break opportunity. Even if the line is not actually broken at that point, the hyphen is still rendered.

U+00AD (SHY)

An invisible, "soft" hyphen. This character is not rendered visibly; instead, it marks a place where the browser should break the word if hyphenation is necessary. In HTML, use ­ to insert a soft hyphen.

Note: When the HTML <wbr> element leads to a line break, no hyphen is added.

Formal definition

Initial value manual
Applies to all elements
Inherited yes
Computed value as specified
Animation type discrete

Formal syntax

none | manual | auto

Examples

Specifying text hyphenation

This example uses three classes, one for each possible configuration of the hyphens property.

HTML

<dl>
  <dt><code>none</code>: no hyphen; overflow if needed</dt>
  <dd lang="en" class="none">An extreme&shy;ly long English word</dd>
  <dt><code>manual</code>: hyphen only at &amp;hyphen; or &amp;shy; (if needed)</dt>
  <dd lang="en" class="manual">An extreme&shy;ly long English word</dd>
  <dt><code>auto</code>: hyphens where the algorithm decides (if needed)</dt>
  <dd lang="en" class="auto">An extreme&shy;ly long English word</dd>
</dl>

CSS

dd {
  width: 55px;
  border: 1px solid black;
 }
dd.none {
  -webkit-hyphens: none;
  -ms-hyphens: none;
  hyphens: none;
}
dd.manual {
  -webkit-hyphens: manual;
  -ms-hyphens: manual;
  hyphens: manual;
}
dd.auto {
  -webkit-hyphens: auto;
  -ms-hyphens: auto;
  hyphens: auto;
}

Result

Specifications

Specification
CSS Text Module Level 3 (CSS Text 3)
# hyphens-property

Browser compatibility

Desktop Mobile
Chrome Edge Firefox Internet Explorer Opera Safari WebView Android Chrome Android Firefox for Android Opera Android Safari on IOS Samsung Internet
hyphens
55
auto value is only supported on macOS and Android and for languages the OS provides hyphenation for.
13
Only -webkit-hyphens: none is supported.
79
auto value is only supported on macOS and Android and for languages the OS provides hyphenation for.
79
Only -webkit-hyphens: none is supported.
12-79
Only works if the specified language is the same as the language of the underlying OS.
43
6
Automatic hyphenation only works for languages with hyphenation dictionaries that are integrated into Firefox.
10
Only works if the specified language is the same as the language of the underlying OS.
44
auto value is only supported on macOS and Android.
5.1
55
4
55
18
43
6
Automatic hyphenation only works for languages with hyphenation dictionaries that are integrated into Firefox.
43
4.2
6.0
1.0
afrikaans
No
No
8
No
No
No
No
No
8
No
No
No
bosnian
No
No
8
No
No
No
No
No
8
No
No
No
bulgarian
No
No
8
No
No
No
No
No
8
No
No
No
catalan
No
No
8
No
No
5.1
No
No
8
No
5
No
croatian
No
No
8
No
No
9.1
No
No
8
No
9.3
No
czech
No
No
No
No
No
9.1
No
No
No
No
9.3
No
danish
No
No
8
No
No
5.1
No
No
8
No
5
No
dutch
No
No
8
No
No
5.1
No
No
8
No
5
No
english
55
12
6
For English, Firefox uses an en-US dictionary
10
44
5.1
For English, Safari uses different en-GB and en-US dictionaries.
55
55
6
For English, Firefox uses an en-US dictionary
43
6
For English, Safari uses different en-GB and en-US dictionaries.
6.0
esperanto
No
No
8
No
No
No
No
No
8
No
No
No
estonian
No
No
8
No
No
No
No
No
8
No
No
No
finish
No
No
8
No
No
9.1
No
No
8
No
9.3
No
french
No
No
8
No
No
5.1
No
No
8
No
5
No
galician
No
No
9
No
No
No
No
No
9
No
No
No
german_reformed_orthography
No
No
8
No
No
5.1
No
No
8
No
5
No
german_swiss_orthography
No
No
8
No
No
No
No
No
8
No
No
No
german_traditional_orthography
No
No
8
No
No
No
No
No
8
No
No
No
hungarian
No
No
9
No
No
9.1
No
No
9
No
9.3
No
icelandic
No
No
8
No
No
No
No
No
8
No
No
No
interlingua
No
No
8
No
No
No
No
No
8
No
No
No
italian
No
No
9
No
No
5.1
No
No
9
No
5
No
kurmanji
No
No
8
No
No
No
No
No
8
No
No
No
latin
No
No
8
No
No
No
No
No
8
No
No
No
lithuanian
No
No
8
No
No
No
No
No
8
No
No
No
mongolian
No
No
8
No
No
No
No
No
8
No
No
No
norwegian_nn
No
No
8
No
No
No
No
No
8
No
5
No
norwegian_no
No
No
8
No
No
5.1
No
No
8
No
5
No
polish
No
No
31
No
No
9.1
No
No
31
No
9.3
No
portuguese
No
No
8
No
No
9.1
No
No
8
No
9.3
No
portuguese_brazillian
No
No
8
For Brazilian Portuguese, Firefox uses a Portuguese dictionary.
No
No
No
No
No
8
For Brazilian Portuguese, Firefox uses a Portuguese dictionary.
No
No
No
russian
No
No
8
No
No
5.1
No
No
8
No
5
No
slovenian
No
No
8
No
No
No
No
No
8
No
No
No
spanish
No
No
8
No
No
5.1
No
No
8
No
5
No
swedish
No
No
8
No
No
5.1
No
No
8
No
5
No
turkish
No
No
9
No
No
5.1
No
No
9
No
5
No
ukrainian
No
No
9
No
No
9.1
No
No
9
No
9.3
No
upper_sorbian
No
No
8
No
No
No
No
No
8
No
No
No
welsh
No
No
8
No
No
No
No
No
8
No
No
No

See also

© 2005–2021 MDN contributors.
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License v2.5 or later.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/hyphens