clear

Summary

The clear CSS property specifies whether an element can be next to floating elements that precede it or must be moved down (cleared) below them. The clear property applies to both floating and non-floating elements.

When applied to non-floating blocks, it moves the border edge of the element down until it is below the margin edge of all relevant floats. This movement (when it happens) causes margin collapsing not to occur.

When applied to floating elements, it moves the margin edge of the element below the margin edge of all relevant floats. This affects the position of later floats, since later floats cannot be positioned higher than earlier ones.

The floats that are relevant to be cleared are the earlier floats within the same block formatting context.

#container::after { 
   content: "";
   display: block; 
   clear: both;
}

Syntax

clear: none;
clear: left;
clear: right;
clear: both;
clear: inline-start;
clear: inline-end;

clear: inherit;

Values

none

Is a keyword indicating that the element is not moved down to clear past floating elements.

left

Is a keyword indicating that the element is moved down to clear past left floats.

right

Is a keyword indicating that the element is moved down to clear past right floats.

both

Is a keyword indicating that the element is moved down to clear past both left and right floats.

inline-start

Is a keyword indicating that the element is moved down to clear floats on start side of its containing block, that is the left floats on ltr scripts and the right floats on rtl scripts.

inline-end

Is a keyword indicating that the element is moved down to clear floats on end side of its containing block, that is the right floats on ltr scripts and the left floats on rtl scripts.

Formal syntax

none | left | right | both | inline-start | inline-end

Examples

clear: left

HTML Content

<div class="wrapper">

    <p class="black">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Phasellus sit amet diam. Duis mattis varius dui. Suspendisse eget dolor.</p>

    <p class="red">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit.</p>

    <p class="left">This paragraph clears left.</p>

</div>

CSS Content

.wrapper{
    border:1px solid black;
    padding:10px;
}
.left {
    border: 1px solid black;
    clear: left;
}
.black {
    float: left;
    margin: 0;
    background-color: black;
    color: #fff;
    width: 20%;
}
.red {
    float: left;
    margin: 0;
    background-color: red;
    width:20%;
}
p {
    width: 50%;
}

clear: right

HTML Content

<div class="wrapper">

    <p class="black">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Phasellus sit amet diam. Duis mattis varius dui. Suspendisse eget dolor.</p>

    <p class="red">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit.</p>

    <p class="right">This paragraph clears right.</p>

</div>

CSS Content

.wrapper{
    border:1px solid black;
    padding:10px;
}
.right {
    border: 1px solid black;
    clear: right;
}
.black {
    float: right;
    margin: 0;
    background-color: black;
    color: #fff;
    width:20%;
}
.red {
    float: right;
    margin: 0;
    background-color: red;
    width:20%;
}
p {
    width: 50%;
}

clear: both

HTML Content

<div class="wrapper">

    <p class="black">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Phasellus sit amet diam. Duis mattis varius dui. Suspendisse eget dolor. Fusce pulvinar lacus ac dui.</p>

    <p class="red">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Phasellus sit amet diam. Duis mattis varius dui. Suspendisse eget dolor.</p>

    <p class="both">This paragraph clears both.</p>

</div>

CSS Content

.wrapper{
    border:1px solid black;
    padding:10px;
}
.both {
    border: 1px solid black;
    clear: both;
}
.black {
    float: left;
    margin: 0;
    background-color: black;
    color: #fff;
    width:20%;
}
.red {
    float: right;
    margin: 0;
    background-color: red;
    width:20%;
}
p {
    width: 45%;
}

Specifications

Browser compatibility

[1] Enabled by default on Nightly and Aurora (Dev edition); to activate it on a release or beta version, you need to flip the layout.css.float-logical-values.enabled to true.

See also

• Box model