`text-decoration-line` CSS property

The text-decoration-line CSS property sets the kind of decoration that is used on text in an element, such as an underline or overline.

text-decoration-line: none;

text-decoration-line: underline;

text-decoration-line: overline;

text-decoration-line: line-through;

text-decoration-line: grammar-error;

text-decoration-line: spelling-error;

text-decoration-line: underline overline;

text-decoration-line: underline line-through;

<section id="default-example">
  <p>
    I'd far rather be
    <span class="transition-all" id="example-element">happy than right</span>
    any day.
  </p>
</section>

p {
  font: 1.5em sans-serif;
}

When setting multiple line-decoration properties at once, it may be more convenient to use the text-decoration shorthand property instead.

Syntax

/* Single keyword */
text-decoration-line: none;
text-decoration-line: underline;
text-decoration-line: overline;
text-decoration-line: line-through;
text-decoration-line: blink;
text-decoration-line: spelling-error;
text-decoration-line: grammar-error;

/* Multiple keywords */
text-decoration-line: underline overline; /* Two decoration lines */
text-decoration-line: overline underline line-through; /* Multiple decoration lines */

/* Global values */
text-decoration-line: inherit;
text-decoration-line: initial;
text-decoration-line: revert;
text-decoration-line: revert-layer;
text-decoration-line: unset;

Values

This property is specified either as none or a space-separated list of keyword values chosen from the list below:

• none
  • : Produces no text decoration.
• underline
  • : Each line of text has a decorative line beneath it.
• overline
  • : Each line of text has a decorative line above it.
• line-through
  • : Each line of text has a decorative line going through its middle.
• blink
  • : The text blinks (alternates between visible and invisible). Conforming user agents may not blink the text. This value is deprecated in favor of CSS animations.
• spelling-error
  • : Each line of text uses the user agents’ method of highlighting spelling mistakes, which is a dotted red line in most browsers.
• grammar-error
  • : Each line of text uses the user agents’ method of highlighting grammar mistakes, which is a dotted green line in most browsers.

[!NOTE] When using spelling-error and grammar-error values, the browser disregards the other properties in the text-decoration shorthand (such as text-underline-position, color, or stroke).

Formal definition

Formal syntax

Examples

Basic example

<p class="wavy">Here's some text with wavy red underline!</p>
<p class="both">This text has lines both above and below it.</p>

.wavy {
  text-decoration-line: underline;
  text-decoration-style: wavy;
  text-decoration-color: red;
}

.both {
  text-decoration-line: underline overline;
}

Errors example

In this example, the first paragraph contains a spelling mistake and uses the browser’s styling for spelling errors on the misspelled word. The second paragraph uses the browser’s styling for grammar errors. There is no styling change in browsers that do not support these text-decoration-line values.

<p>This text contains a <span class="spelling">speling</span> mistake.</p>
<p class="grammar">This text contain grammatical errors.</p>

.spelling {
  text-decoration-line: spelling-error;
}

.grammar {
  text-decoration-line: grammar-error;
}

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• When setting multiple line-decoration properties at once, it may be more convenient to use the text-decoration shorthand property instead, which also includes:
  • text-decoration-style
  • text-decoration-color
  • text-decoration-thickness
• text-underline-offset
• ::spelling-error
• ::grammar-error