clip property CSS Reference

Definition and Usage

The clip CSS property defines what portion of an element is visible. The clip property applies only to elements with position:absolute.

• Initial auto
• Applies to absolutely positioned elements
• Inherited no
• Media visual
• Computed Value auto if specified as auto, otherwise a rectangle with four values, each of which is auto if specified as auto or the computed length otherwise
• Animatable yes, as a rectangle
• Canonical order the unique non-ambiguous order defined by the formal grammar

Syntax

Formal syntax: <shape> | auto

clip: rect(1px, 10em, 3rem, 2ch)
clip: auto
clip: inherit

Values

<shape>

A rectangular <shape> of the form

rect(<top>, <right>, <bottom>, <left>)   /* standard syntax */

or

rect(<top> <right> <bottom> <left>)      /* backwards compatible syntax */

where <top> and <bottom> specify offsets from the inside top border edge of the box, and <right>, and <left> specify offsets from the inside left border edge of the box — that is, the extent of the padding box.

<top>, <right>, <bottom>, and <left> may either have a <length> value or auto. If any side's value is auto, the element is clipped to that side's inside border edge.

auto

The element does not clip (default value). Note that this is distinct from rect(auto, auto, auto, auto), which does clip to the inside border edges of the element.

Examples

p { border:dotted;  position:relative; }
#img2 {
  position:absolute;  left:263px;
  clip: rect(40px, 200px, 150px, 30px);
  /* standard syntax, unsupported by Internet Explorer 4-7 */
}
#img3 {
  position: absolute; left:526px;
  clip: rect(40px  200px  150px  30px);
  /* non-standard syntax, but supported by all major browsers including Firefox and IE */
}

Compatibility

Desktop browsers

Mobile browsers