column-width CSS property - CSS | MDN

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column-width CSS property

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since November 2016.

The column-width CSS property sets the ideal column width in a multi-column layout. The container will have as many columns as can fit without any of them having a width less than the column-width value. If the width of the container is narrower than the specified value, the single column's width will be smaller than the declared column width.

This property can help you create responsive designs that fit different screen sizes. Especially in the presence of the column-count property (which has precedence), you must specify all related length values to achieve an exact column width. In horizontal text these are width, column-width, column-gap, and column-rule-width.

The columns shorthand property can be used to set the column-width, column-count, and column-height property values in a single declaration.

Try it

column-width: auto;

column-width: 6rem;

column-width: 120px;

column-width: 18ch;

<section id="default-example">
  <p id="example-element">
    London. Michaelmas term lately over, and the Lord Chancellor sitting in
    Lincoln's Inn Hall. Implacable November weather. As much mud in the streets
    as if the waters had but newly retired from the face of the earth, and it
    would not be wonderful to meet a Megalosaurus, forty feet long or so,
    waddling like an elephantine lizard up Holborn Hill.
  </p>
</section>

#example-element {
  width: 100%;
  columns: auto;
  text-align: left;
}

Syntax

css
/* Keyword value */
column-width: auto;

/* <length> values */
column-width: 60px;
column-width: 15.5em;
column-width: 3.3vw;

/* Global values */
column-width: inherit;
column-width: initial;
column-width: revert;
column-width: revert-layer;
column-width: unset;

The column-width property is specified as one of the values listed below.

Values

Indicates the optimal column width. The actual column width may differ from the specified value: it may be wider when necessary to fill available space, and narrower when the available space is too small. The value must be strictly positive or the declaration is invalid. Percentage values are also invalid.

auto

The width of the column is determined by other CSS properties, such as column-count.

Formal definition

Initial valueApplies toInherited Computed value Animation type

auto

Block containers except table wrapper boxes

auto if specified as auto, otherwise for <length> the absolute value specified

by computed value type

Formal syntax

column-width =
auto |
<length [0,∞]> |
min-content |
max-content |
fit-content( <length-percentage> )

<length-percentage> =
<length> |
<percentage>
This syntax reflects the latest standard as per CSS Box Sizing Module Level 3, CSS Multi-column Layout Module Level 2, CSS Values and Units Module Level 4. Not all browsers may have implemented every part. See Browser compatibility for support information.

Examples

Setting column width in pixels

HTML

html
<p class="content-box">
  Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy
  nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi
  enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis
  nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
</p>

CSS

css
.content-box {
  column-width: 100px;
}

Result

Specifications

Specification

CSS Multi-column Layout Module Level 2
# propdef-column-width

Browser compatibility

Enable JavaScript to view this browser compatibility table.

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This page was last modified on Apr 20, 2026 by MDN contributors.

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