break-after
The break-after
CSS property sets how page, column, or region breaks should behave after a generated box. If there is no generated box, the property is ignored.
Try it
Syntax
css
/* Generic break values */
break-after: auto;
break-after: avoid;
break-after: always;
break-after: all;
/* Page break values */
break-after: avoid-page;
break-after: page;
break-after: left;
break-after: right;
break-after: recto;
break-after: verso;
/* Column break values */
break-after: avoid-column;
break-after: column;
/* Region break values */
break-after: avoid-region;
break-after: region;
/* Global values */
break-after: inherit;
break-after: initial;
break-after: revert;
break-after: revert-layer;
break-after: unset;
Each possible break point (in other words, each element boundary) is affected by three properties: the break-after
value of the previous element, the break-before
value of the next element, and the break-inside
value of the containing element.
To determine if a break must be done, the following rules are applied:
- If any of the three concerned values is a forced break value (
always
,left
,right
,page
,column
, orregion
), it has precedence. If more than one of them are such a break, the one of the element that appears the latest in the flow is taken (i.e., thebreak-before
value has precedence over thebreak-after
value, which itself has precedence over thebreak-inside
value). - If any of the three concerned values is an avoid break value (
avoid
,avoid-page
,avoid-region
, oravoid-column
), no such break will be applied at that point.
Once forced breaks have been applied, soft breaks may be added if needed, but not on element boundaries that resolve in a corresponding avoid
value.
Values
Generic break values
auto
-
Allows, but does not force, any break (page, column, or region) to be inserted right after the principal box.
avoid
-
Avoids any break (page, column, or region) from being inserted right after the principal box.
always
Experimental-
Forces a page break right after the principal box. The type of this break is that of the immediately-containing fragmentation context. If we are inside a multicol container then it would force a column break, inside paged media (but not inside a multicol container) a page break.
all
Experimental-
Forces a page break right after the principal box. Breaking through all possible fragmentation contexts. So a break inside a multicol container, which was inside a page container would force a column and page break.
Page break values
avoid-page
-
Avoids any page break right after the principal box.
page
-
Forces a page break right after the principal box.
left
-
Forces one or two page breaks right after the principal box, whichever will make the next page into a left page. It's the page placed on the left side of the spine of the book or the back side of the page in duplex printing.
right
-
Forces one or two page breaks right after the principal box, whichever will make the next page into a right page. It's the page placed on the right side of the spine of the book or the front side of the page in duplex printing.
recto
Experimental-
Forces one or two page breaks right after the principal box, whichever will make the next page into a recto page. (A recto page is a right page in a left-to-right spread or a left page in a right-to-left spread.)
verso
Experimental-
Forces one or two page breaks right after the principal box, whichever will make the next page into a verso page. (A verso page is a left page in a left-to-right spread or a right page in a right-to-left spread.)
Column break values
avoid-column
-
Avoids any column break right after the principal box.
column
-
Forces a column break right after the principal box.
Region break values
avoid-region
Experimental-
Avoids any region break right after the principal box.
region
Experimental-
Forces a region break right after the principal box.
Page break aliases
For compatibility reasons, the legacy page-break-after
property should be treated by browsers as an alias of break-after
. This ensures that sites using page-break-after
continue to work as designed. A subset of values should be aliased as follows:
page-break-after | break-after |
---|---|
auto |
auto |
left |
left |
right |
right |
avoid |
avoid |
always |
page |
Note: The always
value of page-break-*
was implemented by browsers as a page break, and not as a column break. Therefore the aliasing is to page
, rather than the always
value in the Level 4 spec.
Formal definition
Initial value | auto |
---|---|
Applies to | block-level elements |
Inherited | no |
Computed value | as specified |
Animation type | discrete |
Formal syntax
Examples
Breaking into neat columns
In the following example we have a container that contains an <h1>
spanning all columns (achieved using column-span: all
) and a series of <h2>
s and paragraphs laid out in multiple columns using column-width: 200px
.
By default, the subheadings and paragraphs were laid out rather messily because the headings were not in a uniform place. However, we used break-after: column
on the <p>
elements to force a column break after each one, meaning that you end up with an <h2>
neatly at the top of each column.
HTML
html
<article>
<h1>Main heading</h1>
<h2>Subheading</h2>
<p>
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla vitae
fringilla mauris. Quisque commodo eget nisi sed pretium. Mauris luctus nec
lacus in ultricies. Mauris vitae hendrerit arcu, ac scelerisque lacus.
Aliquam lobortis in lacus sit amet posuere. Fusce iaculis urna id neque
dapibus, eu lacinia lectus dictum.
</p>
<h2>Subheading</h2>
<p>
Praesent condimentum dui dui, sit amet rutrum diam tincidunt eu. Cras
suscipit porta leo sit amet rutrum. Sed vehicula ornare tincidunt. Curabitur
a ipsum ac diam mattis volutpat ac ut elit. Nullam luctus justo non
vestibulum gravida. Morbi metus libero, pharetra non porttitor a, molestie
nec nisi.
</p>
<h2>Subheading</h2>
<p>
Vivamus eleifend metus vitae neque placerat, eget interdum elit mattis.
Donec eu vulputate nibh. Ut turpis leo, malesuada quis nisl nec, volutpat
egestas tellus.
</p>
<h2>Subheading</h2>
<p>
In finibus viverra enim vel suscipit. Quisque consequat velit eu orci
malesuada, ut interdum tortor molestie. Proin sed pellentesque augue. Nam
risus justo, faucibus non porta a, congue vel massa. Cras luctus lacus nisl,
sed tincidunt velit pharetra ac. Duis suscipit faucibus dui sed ultricies.
</p>
</article>
CSS
css
html {
font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;
}
h1 {
font-size: 3rem;
letter-spacing: 2px;
column-span: all;
}
h2 {
font-size: 1.2rem;
color: red;
letter-spacing: 1px;
}
p {
line-height: 1.5;
break-after: column;
}
article {
column-width: 200px;
gap: 20px;
}
Result
Specifications
Specification |
---|
CSS Fragmentation Module Level 3 # break-between |
CSS Regions Module Level 1 # region-flow-break |
CSS Multi-column Layout Module Level 1 # break-before-break-after-break-inside |
Browser compatibility
BCD tables only load in the browser