text-overflow CSS property - CSS | MDN

#example-element {
line-height: 50px;
border: 1px solid #c5c5c5;
overflow: hidden;
white-space: nowrap;
font-family: sans-serif;
padding: 0 0.5em;
text-align: left;
The
text-overflow
property doesn't force an overflow to occur. To make text overflow its container, you have to set other CSS properties:
overflow
and
white-space
. For example:
css
overflow: hidden;
white-space: nowrap;
The
text-overflow
property only affects content that is overflowing a block container element in its
inline
progression direction (not text overflowing at the bottom of a box, for example).
css
text-overflow: clip;
text-overflow: ellipsis ellipsis;
text-overflow: ellipsis " [..]";

/* Global values */
text-overflow: inherit;
text-overflow: initial;
text-overflow: revert;
text-overflow: revert-layer;
text-overflow: unset;
The
text-overflow
property may be specified using one or two values. If one value is given, it specifies overflow behavior for the end of the line (the right end for left-to-right text, the left end for right-to-left text). If two values are given, the first specifies overflow behavior for the left end of the line, and the second specifies it for the right end of the line. The property accepts either a keyword value (
clip
or
ellipsis
) or a

value.
clip
The default for this property. This keyword value will truncate the text at the limit of the
content area
, therefore the truncation can happen in the middle of a character. To clip at the transition between characters you can specify
text-overflow
as an empty string, if that is supported in your target browsers:
text-overflow: '';
ellipsis
This keyword value will display an ellipsis (
'…'
U+2026 HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS
) to represent clipped text. The ellipsis is displayed inside the
content area
, decreasing the amount of text displayed. If there is not enough space to display the ellipsis, it is clipped.

The

to be used to represent clipped text. The string is displayed inside the
content area
, shortening the size of the displayed text. If there is not enough space to display the string itself, it is clipped.
text-overflow =
clip
ellipsis

fade

{1,2}
=
fade(

=


This example shows different values for
text-overflow
applied to a paragraph, for left-to-right and right-to-left text.
HTML
html

clip

ellipsis

" [..]"

clip

ellipsis

" [..]"

/* Both of the following are required for text-overflow */
white-space: nowrap;
overflow: hidden;

.overflow-clip {
text-overflow: clip;

.overflow-ellipsis {
text-overflow: ellipsis;

.overflow-string {
text-overflow: " [..]";

body {
display: flex;
justify-content: space-around;

.ltr > p {
direction: ltr;

.rtl > p {
direction: rtl;
Result
This example shows the two-value syntax for
text-overflow
, where you can define different overflow behavior for the start and end of the text.
To show the effect we have to scroll the line so the start of the line is also hidden.
HTML
html

clip clip

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit.

clip ellipsis

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit.

ellipsis ellipsis

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit.

ellipsis " [..]"

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit.

/* Both of the following are required for text-overflow */
white-space: nowrap;
overflow: scroll;

.overflow-clip-clip {
text-overflow: clip clip;

.overflow-clip-ellipsis {
text-overflow: clip ellipsis;

.overflow-ellipsis-ellipsis {
text-overflow: ellipsis ellipsis;

.overflow-ellipsis-string {
text-overflow: ellipsis " [..]";
JavaScript
js
// Scroll each paragraph so the start is also hidden
const paras = document.querySelectorAll("p");

for (const para of paras) {
para.scroll(100, 0);
Result
A previous version of this interface reached the
Candidate Recommendation
status. As some not-listed-at-risk features needed to be removed, the spec was demoted to the
Working Draft
level, explaining why browsers implemented this property unprefixed, though not at the CR state.