border-collapse

The border-collapse CSS property sets whether cells inside a <table> have shared or separate borders.

Try it

When cells are collapsed, the border-style value of inset behaves like ridge, and outset behaves like groove.

When cells are separated, the distance between cells is defined by the border-spacing property.

Syntax

/* Keyword values */
border-collapse: collapse;
border-collapse: separate;

/* Global values */
border-collapse: inherit;
border-collapse: initial;
border-collapse: revert;
border-collapse: revert-layer;
border-collapse: unset;

The border-collapse property is specified as a single keyword, which may be chosen from the list below.

Values

collapse: Adjacent cells have shared borders (the collapsed-border table rendering model).
separate: Adjacent cells have distinct borders (the separated-border table rendering model).

Formal definition

Initial value	`separate`
Applies to	`table` and `inline-table` elements
Inherited	yes
Computed value	as specified
Animation type	discrete

Formal syntax

border-collapse = 
  separate  |
  collapse

Examples

A colorful table of browser engines

HTML

<table class="separate">
  <caption>
    <code>border-collapse: separate</code>
  </caption>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <th>Browser</th>
      <th>Layout Engine</th>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td class="fx">Firefox</td>
      <td class="gk">Gecko</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td class="ed">Edge</td>
      <td class="tr">EdgeHTML</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td class="sa">Safari</td>
      <td class="wk">Webkit</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td class="ch">Chrome</td>
      <td class="bk">Blink</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td class="op">Opera</td>
      <td class="bk">Blink</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>
<table class="collapse">
  <caption>
    <code>border-collapse: collapse</code>
  </caption>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <th>Browser</th>
      <th>Layout Engine</th>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td class="fx">Firefox</td>
      <td class="gk">Gecko</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td class="ed">Edge</td>
      <td class="tr">EdgeHTML</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td class="sa">Safari</td>
      <td class="wk">Webkit</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td class="ch">Chrome</td>
      <td class="bk">Blink</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td class="op">Opera</td>
      <td class="bk">Blink</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

CSS

.collapse {
  border-collapse: collapse;
}

.separate {
  border-collapse: separate;
}

table {
  display: inline-table;
  margin: 1em;
  border: dashed 5px;
}

table th,
table td {
  border: solid 3px;
}

.fx {
  border-color: orange blue;
}
.gk {
  border-color: black red;
}
.ed {
  border-color: blue gold;
}
.tr {
  border-color: aqua;
}
.sa {
  border-color: silver blue;
}
.wk {
  border-color: gold blue;
}
.ch {
  border-color: red yellow green blue;
}
.bk {
  border-color: navy blue teal aqua;
}
.op {
  border-color: red;
}

Result

Specifications

Specification
Cascading Style Sheets Level 2 Revision 2 (CSS 2.2) Specification # propdef-border-collapse

Browser compatibility

	Desktop					Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Opera	Safari	Chrome Android	Firefox for Android	Opera Android	Safari on IOS	Samsung Internet	WebView Android
`border-collapse`	1	12	1	4	1.2	18	4	10.1	3	1.0	2.2
`collapse`	≤80	80	≤72	67	≤13.1	80	79	57	≤13.4	13.0	80
`separate`	≤80	80	≤72	67	≤13.1	80	79	57	≤13.4	13.0	80