--*

Property names that are prefixed with --, like --example-name, represent custom properties that contain a value than can be reused throughout the document using the (var()) function.

Custom properties participate in the cascade: each of them can appear several times, and the value of the variable will match the value defined in the custom property decided by the cascading algorithm.

Initial value	see prose
Applies to	all elements
Inherited	yes
Media	all
Computed value	as specified with variables substituted
Animation type	discrete
Canonical order	per grammar

Syntax

--somekeyword: left;
--somecolor: #0000ff;
--somecomplexvalue: 3px 6px rgb(20, 32, 54);

<declaration-value>

This value matches any sequence of one or more tokens, so long as the sequence does not contain an unallowed tokens. It represents the entirety of what a valid declaration can have as its value.

Formal syntax

<declaration-value>

Example

HTML

<p id="firstParagraph">This paragraph should have a blue background and yellow text.</p>
<p id="secondParagraph">This paragraph should have a yellow background and blue text.</p>
<div id="container">
  <p id="thirdParagraph">This paragraph should have a green background and yellow text.</p>
</div>

CSS

:root {
  --first-color: #488cff;
  --second-color: #ffff8c;
}

#firstParagraph {
  background-color: var(--first-color);
  color: var(--second-color);
}

#secondParagraph {
  background-color: var(--second-color);
  color: var(--first-color);
}

#container {
  --first-color: #48ff32;
}

#thirdParagraph {
  background-color: var(--first-color);
  color: var(--second-color);
}

Result

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
CSS Custom Properties for Cascading Variables Module Level 1 The definition of '--*' in that specification.	Working Draft	Initial definition

Browser compatibility

[1] Chrome 48 enabled through the "Experimental Web Platform features" flag in chrome://flags.

[2] In Gecko 29.0 (Firefox 29.0 / Thunderbird 29.0 / SeaMonkey 2.26) this feature is implemented behind the preference layout.css.variables.enabled, defaulting to false and using the old var-variablename syntax. Starting from Gecko 31.0 (Firefox 31.0 / Thunderbird 31.0 / SeaMonkey 2.28) the preference is set to true by default and the new --variablename syntax is used.

[3] See WebKit bug 19660.

See also

• Using CSS variables