CSS border-left Property

The CSS border-left property is used to set the width, line style and color of the left border of elements.

It is a shorthand property for specifying the following values:

These three values of the shorthand property can be specified in any order, and one or two of them can be missed.

If there isn't a specified color, the value will be taken from the color property. If the color property is not defined, it will take the current color by default.

If the width is not specified, it will take the medium size of the element.

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Initial Value	medium none currentColor
Applies to	All elements. It also applies to ::first-letter.
Inherited	No
Animatable	Yes. The color and width of the border are animatable.
Version	CSS1
DOM Syntax	object.style.borderLeft = "1px solid black";

Syntax

border-left: border-width border-style border-color | initial | inherit;

Example of the border-left property:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
    <style>
      div {
        border-left: 3px solid #1c87c9;
        padding: 10px;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h2>Border-left example</h2>
    <div> This is a simple example for the border-left property.</div>
  </body>
</html>

Try it Yourself »

Result

Example of the border-left property applied to different elements:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <style>
      h1,
      p,
      div {
        padding: 10px;
      }
      h1 {
        border-left: 5px solid #8ebf42;
      }
      p {
        border-left: 4px dotted #1c87c9;
      }
      div {
        border-left: thick double #666;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>A heading with a solid green left border</h1>
    <p>A heading with a dotted blue left border.</p>
    <div>A div element with a thick double left border.</div>
  </body>
</html>

Try it Yourself »

Create a box with the <div> element and set a background-color for your box and left border.

Example of the border-left property with the <div> element:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <style>
      div {
        border-left: 20px ridge #8ebf42;
        background-color: #ccc;
        height: 100px;
        width: 200px;
        font-weight: bold;
        text-align: center;
        padding: 3px;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <div>
      <p>This box has a ridge border on the left side.</p>
    </div>
  </body>
</html>

Try it Yourself »

Values

Value	Description
border-left-width	Sets the left border width of an element. The default value is "medium". Required value.
border-left-style	Sets the line style of the left border of an element. The default value is "none". Required value.
border-left-color	Sets the color of the left border of an element. The default value is the current color of the text.
initial	Sets the property to its default value.
inherit	Inherits the property from its parent element.