CSS Display

CSS display is the most important property of CSS which is used to control the layout of the element. It specifies how the element is displayed.

Every element has a default display value according to its nature. Every element on the webpage is a rectangular box and the CSS property defines the behavior of that rectangular box.

CSS Display default properties

default value	inline
inherited	no
animation supporting	no
version	css1
javascript syntax	object.style.display="none"

Syntax

CSS display values

There are following CSS display values which are commonly used.

display: inline;
display: inline-block;
display: block;
display: run-in;
display: none;

1) CSS display inline

The inline element takes the required width only. It doesn't force the line break so the flow of text doesn't break in inline example.

The inline elements are:

<span>
<a>
<em>
<b> etc.

Let's see an example of CSS display inline.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
p {
display: inline; 
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<p>Hello Javatpoint.com</p>
<p>Java Tutorial.</p>
<p>SQL Tutorial.</p>
<p>HTML Tutorial.</p>
<p>CSS Tutorial.</p>
</body>
</html> 

Test it Now

Output:

Hello Javatpoint.com Java Tutorial. SQL Tutorial. HTML Tutorial. CSS Tutorial.

2) CSS display inline-block

The CSS display inline-block element is very similar to inline element but the difference is that you are able to set the width and height.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
p {
display: inline-block; 
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<p>Hello Javatpoint.com</p>
<p>Java Tutorial.</p>
<p>SQL Tutorial.</p>
<p>HTML Tutorial.</p>
<p>CSS Tutorial.</p>
</body>
</html>

Test it Now

Output:

Hello Javatpoint.com Java Tutorial. SQL Tutorial. HTML Tutorial. CSS Tutorial.

3) CSS display block

The CSS display block element takes as much as horizontal space as they can. Means the block element takes the full available width. They make a line break before and after them.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
p {
display: block; 
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<p>Hello Javatpoint.com</p>
<p>Java Tutorial.</p>
<p>SQL Tutorial.</p>
<p>HTML Tutorial.</p>
<p>CSS Tutorial.</p>
</body>
</html>

Test it Now

Output:

Hello Javatpoint.com

Java Tutorial.

SQL Tutorial.

HTML Tutorial.

CSS Tutorial.

4) CSS display run-in

This property doesn't work in Mozilla Firefox. These elements don't produce a specific box by themselves.

If the run-in box contains a bock box, it will be same as block.
If the block box follows the run-in box, the run-in box becomes the first inline box of the block box.
If the inline box follows the run-in box, the run-in box becomes a block box.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
p {
display: run-in; 
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<p>Hello Javatpoint.com</p>
<p>Java Tutorial.</p>
<p>SQL Tutorial.</p>
<p>HTML Tutorial.</p>
<p>CSS Tutorial.</p>
</body>
</html>

Test it Now

Output:

Hello Javatpoint.com

Java Tutorial.

SQL Tutorial.

HTML Tutorial.

CSS Tutorial.

5) CSS display none

The "none" value totally removes the element from the page. It will not take any space.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
h1.hidden {
    display: none;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1>This heading is visible.</h1>
<h1 class="hidden">This is not visible.</h1>
<p>You can see that the hidden heading does not contain any space.</p>
</body>
</html>

Test it Now

Output:

This heading is visible.

You can see that the hidden heading does not contain any space.

Other CSS display values

Property-value	Description
flex	It is used to display an element as an block-level flex container. It is new in css3.
inline-flex	It is used to display an element as an inline-level flex container. It is new in css3.
inline-table	It displays an element as an inline-level table.
list-Item	It makes the element behave like a <li> element.
table	It makes the element behave like a <table> element.
table-caption	It makes the element behave like a <caption> element.
table-column-group	It makes the element behave like a <colgroup> element.
table-header-group	It makes the element behave like a <thead> element.
table-footer-group	It makes the element behave like a <tfoot> element.
table-row-group	It makes the element behave like a <tbody> element.
table-cell	It makes the element behave like a <td> element.
table-row	It makes the element behave like a <tr> element.
table-column	It makes the element behave like a <col> element.