The <string>
CSS data type represents a sequence of characters. Strings are used in numerous CSS properties, such as <content>
, <font-family>
, and <quotes>
.
Syntax
The <string>
data type is composed of any number of Unicode characters surrounded by either double ("
) or single ('
) quotes.
Most characters can be represented literally. All characters can also be represented with their respective Unicode code points in hexadecimal, in which case they are preceded by a backslash (\
). For example, \22
represents a double quote, \27
a single quote ('
), and \A9
the copyright symbol (©
).
Importantly, certain characters which would otherwise be invalid can be escaped with a backslash. These include double quotes when used inside a double-quoted string, single quotes when used inside a single-quoted string, and the backslash itself. For example, \\
will create a single backslash.
To output new lines, you must escape them with a line feed character such as \A
or \00000A
. In your code, however, strings can span multiple lines, in which case each new line must be escaped with a \
as the last character of the line.
However, to get new lines, you must also set the <white-space>
property to appropriate value.
Note: HTML entities (such as
or —
) cannot be used in a CSS <string>
.
Examples
Examples of valid strings
/* Simple strings */ "This string is demarcated by double quotes." 'This string is demarcated by single quotes.' /* Character escaping */ "This is a string with \" an escaped double quote." "This string also has \22 an escaped double quote." 'This is a string with \' an escaped single quote.' 'This string also has \27 an escaped single quote.' "This is a string with \\ an escaped backslash." /* New line in a string */ "This string has a \Aline break in it." /* String spanning two lines of code (these two strings will have identical output) */ "A really long \ awesome string" "A really long awesome string"