`border-collapse` CSS property

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

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.

Try it

border-collapse: collapse;

border-collapse: separate;

<section class="default-example" id="default-example">
  <table class="transition-all" id="example-element">
    <tbody>
      <tr>
        <td>Cell 1.1</td>
        <td>Cell 1.2</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Cell 2.1</td>
        <td>Cell 2.2</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Cell 3.1</td>
        <td>Cell 3.2</td>
      </tr>
    </tbody>
  </table>
</section>

table {
  width: 15rem;
  table-layout: fixed;
}

td {
  border: 5px solid;
  border-color: crimson dodgerblue orange limegreen;
  padding: 0.75rem;
}

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;

Values

This property is specified as one of the following keyword 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

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

Browser compatibility

See also

• border-spacing, border-style
• The border-collapse property alters the appearance of the <table> HTML element.
• CSS table module