text-underline-position

The CSS text-underline-position property specifies the position of the underline which is set using the text-decoration property underline value.

This property inherits and is not reset by the text-decoration shorthand, allowing to easily set it globally for a given document:

:root { /* Better default for document with a lot of chemical formulas */
  text-underline-position: under;
}

Initial value	auto
Applies to	all elements
Inherited	yes
Media	visual
Computed value	as specified
Animation type	discrete
Canonical order	order of appearance in the formal grammar of the values

Syntax

/* Keyword values */
text-underline-position: auto;
text-underline-position: under;
text-underline-position: left;
text-underline-position: right;
text-underline-position: under left;
text-underline-position: right under;

/* Global values */
text-underline-position: inherit;
text-underline-position: initial;
text-underline-position: unset;

Values

auto

This keyword allows the browser to use an algorithm to choose between under and alphabetic.

under

This keyword forces the line to be set below the alphabetic baseline, at a position where it won't cross any descender. This is useful to prevent chemical or mathematical formulas, which make a large use of subscripts, to be illegible.

left

In vertical writing-modes, this keyword forces the line to be placed on the left of the characters. In horizontal writing-modes, it is a synonym of under.

right

In vertical writing-modes, this keyword forces the line to be placed on the right of the characters. In horizontal writing-modes, it is a synonym of under.

auto-pos

This keyword is a synonym of auto which must be used instead

above

This keyword forces the line to be above the text. When used with East-Asian text, using the auto keyword will lead to a similar effect.

below

This keyword forces the line to be under the text. When used with alphabetic text, using the auto keyword will lead to a similar effect.

Formal syntax

auto | [ under || [ left | right ] ]

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
CSS Text Decoration Level 3 The definition of 'text-underline-position' in that specification.	Candidate Recommendation	Initial definition

Browser compatibility

[1] Internet Explorer implements different values, with somewhat different effects for this value. From IE 5 to IE 7, included, only a non-prefixed version existed. From IE 8 onwards, the prefix can be used.

[2] See Chrome Issue 313888

See also

• Text-decorations-related CSS properties: text-decoration, text-decoration-line, text-decoration-style, text-decoration-color.
• Microsoft non-standard values documentation.