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css property

`column-count` CSS property

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The column-count CSS property breaks an element’s content into the specified number of columns.

The columns shorthand property can be used to set the column-count, column-height, and column-width property values in a single declaration.

Interactive exampleOpen the canonical MDN source to run this embedded demo.
column-count: 2;

column-count: 3;

column-count: 4;

column-count: auto;
column-width: 8rem;

<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 {
  width: 100%;
  text-align: left;
}

Syntax

/* Keyword value */
column-count: auto;

/* <integer> value */
column-count: 3;

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

Values

  • auto
    • : The number of columns is determined by other CSS properties, such as column-width.
  • &lt;integer&gt;
    • : Is a strictly positive &lt;integer&gt; describing the ideal number of columns into which the content of the element will be flowed. If the column-width is also set to a non-auto value, it merely indicates the maximum allowed number of columns.

Formal definition

Formal syntax

Examples

Splitting a paragraph across three columns

HTML

<p class="content-box">
  This is a bunch of text split into three columns using the CSS
  <code>column-count</code>
  property. The text is equally distributed over the columns.
</p>

CSS

.content-box {
  column-count: 3;
}

Result

Interactive exampleOpen the canonical MDN source to run this embedded demo.

Specifications

SpecificationsStandards references are available on the canonical MDN page.

Browser compatibility

Browser compatibilityCompatibility data is available on the canonical MDN page.

See also