text-decoration Attribute | textDecoration Property

Internet Development Index

Sets or retrieves a value that indicates whether the text in the object has blink, line-through, overline, or underline decorations.

Syntax

HTML { text-decoration : sDecoration }
Scripting object.style.textDecoration [ = sDecoration ]

Possible Values

sDecoration String that specifies or receives one of the following values.
none Default. Text has no decoration.
underline Text is underlined.
overline Text has a line over it.
line-through Text has a line drawn through it.
blink Not implemented.
The property is read/write for all objects except the following, for which it is read-only: currentStyle. The property has a default value of none. The Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) attribute is not inherited.
Expressions can be used in place of the preceding value(s), as of Microsoft® Internet Explorer 5. For more information, see About Dynamic Properties.

Remarks

The default value is different for the following tags.
Default value is underline for a when used with href, u, and ins.
Default value is line-through for strike, s, and del.
If the value none is placed at the end of the values, all values are cleared. For example, setting {text-decoration: underline?SPAN CLASS="clsLiteral">overline?SPAN CLASS="clsLiteral">blink?SPAN CLASS="clsLiteral">none} causes none of the decorations to render.
If the object has no text (for example, the img object in HTML) or is an empty object (for example, "<EM></EM>"), this property has no effect.
If you set the textDecoration attribute to none on the body object, the a objects are still underlined. To remove the underline from the a objects, either set the style inline or use a as a selector in the global style sheet.
Specifying the textDecoration property for block elements affects all inline children. If it is specified for, or affects, an inline element, it affects all boxes generated by the element.
The overline and blink possible values are available as of Microsoft® Internet Explorer 4.0. Although blink is exposed, it is not rendered.

Examples

The following examples use the text-decoration attribute and the textDecoration property to decorate text within the object.
This example uses an inline style sheet to draw a line through the text within the object.
<DIV STYLE="text-decoration:line-through">
.
.
.
</DIV>
This feature requires Microsoft® Internet Explorer 4.0 or later. Click the following icon to install the latest version. Then reload this page to view the sample.
This example uses inline scripting to underline the text within the span object when the user moves the mouse over the span.
<SPAN STYLE="font-size:14px" onmouseover="this.style.textDecoration='underline'"
onclick="this.style.textDecoration='overline'"
ondblclick="this.style.textDecoration='line-through'">
.
.
.
</SPAN>
This feature requires Microsoft® Internet Explorer 4.0 or later. Click the following icon to install the latest version. Then reload this page to view the sample.
This example demonstrates that textDecoration is not inheritable. It appears as though the child (SPAN) inherits its style from its parent (DIV), but the SPAN does not.
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<STYLE>
DIV{color:red; text-decoration:underline;}
SPAN{color:blue; text-decoration:none;}
</STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<DIV>This DIV has text decoration set to underline <SPAN>, but this SPAN
has it set to none. </SPAN> The DIV continues here.</DIV>
</BODY>
</HTML>
This feature requires Microsoft® Internet Explorer 4.0 or later. Click the following icon to install the latest version. Then reload this page to view the sample.

Standards Information

This property is defined in Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), Level 1 (CSS1) .

Applies To

A, ADDRESS, B, BIG, BLOCKQUOTE, BODY, BUTTON, CAPTION, CENTER, CITE, CODE, COL, COLGROUP, currentStyle, CUSTOM, DD, defaults, DFN, DIR, DIV, DL, DT, EM, FIELDSET, FORM, hn, HTML, I, INPUT type=button, INPUT type=file, INPUT type=password, INPUT type=radio, INPUT type=reset, INPUT type=submit, INPUT type=text, ISINDEX, KBD, LABEL, LEGEND, LI, LISTING, MARQUEE, MENU, OL, P, PLAINTEXT, PRE, runtimeStyle, S, SAMP, SELECT, SMALL, SPAN, STRIKE, STRONG, style, SUB, SUP, TABLE, TBODY, TD, TEXTAREA, TFOOT, TH, THEAD, TR, TT, U, UL, VAR, XMP