How to Flip Text with CSS

CSS3 allows adding various effects, including text flipping due to transformation functions. You can flip a text without any JavaScript code.

The flipping effect creates a mirror image of an element. You can flip an element both horizontally and vertically.

In this snippet, we’re going to show some examples of flipping a text using only CSS.

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Create HTML

  • Use the <span> element with the class name “flipH” and add content.
<span class="flipH">W3Docs &#9657;</span>

Add CSS

span {
  display: inline-block;
  margin: 40px;
}

.flipH {
  transform: scale(-1, 1);
  color: #1c87c9;
  -moz-transform: scale(-1, 1);
  -webkit-transform: scale(-1, 1);
  -o-transform: scale(-1, 1);
  -ms-transform: scale(-1, 1);
  transform: scale(-1, 1);
}

Here is the full example.

Example of flipping a text horizontally:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
    <style>
      span {
        display: inline-block;
        margin: 40px;
      }
      .flipH {
        transform: scale(-1, 1);
        color: #1c87c9;
        -moz-transform: scale(-1, 1);
        -webkit-transform: scale(-1, 1);
        -o-transform: scale(-1, 1);
        -ms-transform: scale(-1, 1);
        transform: scale(-1, 1);
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <span>W3Docs &#9657;</span>
    <span class="flipH">W3Docs &#9657;</span>
  </body>
</html>

Result

W3Docs ▹ W3Docs ▹

Example of flipping a text vertically:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
    <style>
      span {
        display: inline-block;
        margin: 40px;
      }
      .flipV {
        transform: scale(1, -1);
        color: #8ebf42;
        -moz-transform: scale(1, -1);
        -webkit-transform: scale(1, -1);
        -o-transform: scale(1, -1);
        -ms-transform: scale(1, -1);
        transform: scale(1, -1);
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <span class="flipV">W3Docs &#9657;</span>
  </body>
</html>

Example of flipping a text upside down:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
    <style>
      .container {
        display: flex;
        justify-content: center;
        align-items: center;
        height: 100vh;
      }
      .container:hover .backwards {
        margin: 15px;
        -moz-transform: scale(1, 1);
        -webkit-transform: scale(1, 1);
        -o-transform: scale(1, 1);
        -ms-transform: scale(1, 1);
        transform: scale(1, 1);
      }
      .space {
        padding-left: 50px;
      }
      .container:hover .space {
        padding-right: 50px;
        padding-left: 0;
      }
      .backwards {
        display: inline;
        font-size: 100px;
        font-style: bold;
        transition: all .9s;
        -moz-transform: scale(-1, -1);
        -webkit-transform: scale(-1, -1);
        -o-transform: scale(-1, -1);
        -ms-transform: scale(-1, -1);
        transform: scale(-1, -1);
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <ul class="container">
      <li class="backwards">W</li>
      <li class="backwards">3</li>
      <li class="backwards">D</li>
      <li class="backwards">O</li>
      <li class="backwards">C</li>
      <li class="backwards">S</li>
    </ul>
  </body>
</html>

Example of mirroring a text:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
    <style>
      body {
        background-color: #000000;
        display: flex;
        justify-content: center;
      }
      .main {
        display: inline-flex;
      }
      .box {
        margin-top: 50px;
        font-size: 5em;
        padding: 20px;
        color: white;
        font-weight: 800;
      }
      #box1::after {
        content: "W3Docs";
        display: flex;
        transform: rotateX(180deg);
        background-image: linear-gradient(180deg, rgba(255, 255, 255, .0) 10%, rgba(255, 255, 255, .5));
        -webkit-background-clip: text;
        color: transparent;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <div class="main">
      <div class="box" id="box1">W3Docs</div>
    </div>
  </body>
</html>