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CSS Overflow Property

CSS Overflow

The CSS overflow property specifies whether to clip content or to add scrollbars when the content of an element is too big to fit in a specified area.

The overflow property has the following values:

visible - Default. The overflow is not clipped. It renders outside the element's box
hidden - The overflow is clipped, and the rest of the content will be invisible
scroll - The overflow is clipped, but a scrollbar is added to see the rest of the content
auto - If overflow is clipped, a scrollbar should be added to see the rest of the content

Note: The overflow property only works for block elements with a specified height.

Note: In OS X Lion (on Mac), scrollbars are hidden by default and only shown when being used (even though "overflow:scroll" is set).

overflow: visible

By default, the overflow is visible, meaning that it is not clipped and it renders outside the element's box:

See this example:

div {
    width: 200px;
    height: 50px;
    background-color: #eee;
    overflow: visible;
}

overflow: hidden

With the hidden value, the overflow is clipped, and the rest of the content is hidden:

See this example:

div {
overflow: hidden;
}

overflow: scroll

Setting the value to scroll, the overflow is clipped and a scrollbar is added to scroll inside the box. Note that this will add a scrollbar both horizontally and vertically (even if you do not need it):

See this example:

div {
overflow: scroll;
}

overflow: auto

The auto value is similar to scroll, only it add scrollbars when necessary:

See this example:

div {
overflow: auto;
}

overflow-x and overflow-y

The overflow-x and overflow-y properties specifies whether to change the overflow of content just horizontally or vertically (or both):

overflow-x specifies what to do with the left/right edges of the content.
overflow-y specifies what to do with the top/bottom edges of the content.

See this example:

div {
overflow-x: hidden; /* Hide horizontal scrollbar */
overflow-y: scroll; /* Add vertical scrollbar */
}

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