clear

The clear CSS property sets whether an element must be moved below (cleared) floating elements that precede it. The clear property applies to 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. The non-floated block's top margin collapses.

Vertical margins between two floated elements on the other hand will not collapse. When applied to floating elements, the margin edge of the bottom element is moved 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.

If an element contains only floated elements, its height collapses to nothing. If you want it to always be able to resize, so that it contains floating elements inside it, you need to self-clear its children. This is called clearfix, and one way to do it is to add clear to a replaced ::after pseudo-element on it.

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

Syntax

/* Keyword values */
clear: none;
clear: left;
clear: right;
clear: both;
clear: inline-start;
clear: inline-end;

/* Global values */
clear: inherit;
clear: initial;
clear: unset;

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 definition

Initial valuenone
Applies toblock-level elements
Inheritedno
Computed valueas specified
Animation typediscrete

Formal syntax

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

Examples

clear: left

HTML

<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

.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: pink;
  width:20%;
}
p {
  width: 50%;
}

clear: right

HTML

<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

.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: pink;
  width:20%;
}
p {
  width: 50%;
}

clear: both

HTML

<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

.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: pink;
  width:20%;
}
p {
  width: 45%;
}

Specifications

Specification Status Comment
CSS Logical Properties and Values Level 1
The definition of 'float and clear' in that specification.
Editor's Draft Adds the values inline-start and inline-end
CSS Level 2 (Revision 1)
The definition of 'clear' in that specification.
Recommendation No significant changes, though details are clarified.
CSS Level 1
The definition of 'clear' in that specification.
Recommendation Initial definition

Browser compatibility

DesktopMobile
ChromeEdgeFirefoxInternet ExplorerOperaSafariAndroid webviewChrome for AndroidFirefox for AndroidOpera for AndroidSafari on iOSSamsung Internet
clearChrome Full support 1Edge Full support 12Firefox Full support 1IE Full support 4Opera Full support 3.5Safari Full support 1WebView Android Full support 1Chrome Android Full support 18Firefox Android Full support 4Opera Android Full support 10.1Safari iOS Full support 1Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0
Flow-relative values inline-start and inline-endChrome No support NoEdge No support NoFirefox Full support 55IE No support NoOpera No support NoSafari No support NoWebView Android No support NoChrome Android No support NoFirefox Android Full support 55Opera Android No support NoSafari iOS No support NoSamsung Internet Android No support No

Legend

Full support
Full support
No support
No support

See also