The inherit
CSS keyword causes the element for which it is specified to take the computed value of the property from its parent element. It can be applied to any CSS property, including the CSS shorthand all
.
For inherited properties, this reinforces the default behavior, and is only needed to override another rule. For non-inherited properties, this specifies a behavior that typically makes relatively little sense and you may consider using initial
instead, or unset
on the all
property.
Inheritance is always from the parent element in the document tree, even when the parent element is not the containing block.
Examples
Exclude selected elements from a rule
/* Make second-level headers green */ h2 { color: green; } /* ...but leave those in the sidebar alone so they use their parent's color */ #sidebar h2 { color: inherit; }
In this example the h2
elements inside the sidebar might be different colors. For example, if one of them were the child of a div matched by the rule ...
div#current { color: blue; }
... it would be blue.
Specifications
Specification | Status | Comment |
---|---|---|
CSS Cascading and Inheritance Level 4 The definition of 'inherit' in that specification. |
Candidate Recommendation | No changes from Level 3. |
CSS Values and Units Module Level 3 The definition of 'inherit' in that specification. |
Candidate Recommendation | No significant change from CSS Level 2 (Revision 1). |
CSS Level 2 (Revision 1) The definition of 'inherit' in that specification. |
Recommendation | Initial definition. |
Browser compatibility
Desktop | Mobile | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
inherit | Chrome Full support 1 | Edge Full support 12 | Firefox Full support 1 | IE Full support 8 | Opera Full support 4 | Safari Full support 1 | WebView Android Full support 1 | Chrome Android Full support 18 | Firefox Android Full support 4 | Opera Android Full support 14 | Safari iOS Full support 1 | Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0 |
Legend
- Full support
- Full support
See also
- Inheritance
- Use
initial
to set a property to its initial value. - Use
unset
to set a property to its inherited value if it inherits, or to its initial value if not. - Use
revert
to reset a property to the value established by the user-agent stylesheet (or by user styles, if any exist). - The
all
property lets you reset all properties to their initial, inherited, reverted, or unset state at once.