The empty-cells CSS property sets whether borders and backgrounds appear around <table> cells that have no visible content.

/* Keyword values */ empty-cells: show; empty-cells: hide;  /* Global values */ empty-cells: inherit; empty-cells: initial; empty-cells: unset; 

empty-cells

The empty-cells CSS property sets whether borders and backgrounds appear around <table> cells that have no visible content.

This property has an effect only when the border-collapse property is separate.

Syntax

/* Keyword values */ empty-cells: show; empty-cells: hide;  /* Global values */ empty-cells: inherit; empty-cells: initial; empty-cells: unset; 

The empty-cells property is specified as one of the keyword values listed below.

Values

show

Borders and backgrounds are drawn like in normal cells.

hide

No borders or backgrounds are drawn.

Formal definition

Initial value	show
Applies to	table-cell elements
Inherited	yes
Computed value	as specified
Animation type	discrete

Formal syntax

show | hide

Example

Showing and hiding empty table cells

HTML

<table class="table_1">   <tr>     <td>Moe</td>     <td>Larry</td>   </tr>   <tr>     <td>Curly</td>     <td></td>   </tr> </table> <br> <table class="table_2">   <tr>     <td>Moe</td>     <td>Larry</td>   </tr>   <tr>     <td>Curly</td>     <td></td>   </tr> </table> 

CSS

.table_1 {   empty-cells: show; }  .table_2 {   empty-cells: hide; }  td, th {   border: 1px solid gray;   padding: 0.5rem; } 

Result

Specifications

Specification
Cascading Style Sheets Level 2 Revision 1 (CSS 2.1) Specification # empty-cells

See also

border-collapse Styling tables

Last modified: Aug 12, 2021, by MDN contributors

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